Chairman of economic and social advisory body says Lebanon is on verge of extinction
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Hashim Sheikh
- . February 21, 2023
- . Update: February 22, 2023 10:42 am
The leader of Lebanon’s independent advisory board warned on Monday that the country might be on the verge of extinction.
Charles Arbid, president of the Economic and Social Council, warned an urgent gathering at the General Labor Union’s headquarters that without a saviour, the country ran the risk of going out of control.
We worry that Lebanon is changing under the leadership of those who don’t give a damn about the country’s future, he remarked.
Many nations have been overlooked and left to their own devices. After the rest of the world lost interest in them, poverty and violence ruled.
The Taif Agreement’s council is responsible for representing the views of the many sectors engaged in the creation of economic and social policies in Lebanon.
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The “Save the homeland” meeting took place during the third week of a bank strike by Lebanese banks over legal actions taken against them and the failure to pass the Capital Control Bill.
The Lebanese pound decreased to 81,000 to the dollar on Monday as well. As the platform lost sway over the currency market, particularly the illicit market, central banks’ financial operations decreased to $10 million per day.
According to a source in the Lebanese prime minister’s office, the Supreme Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice must take action to break the impasse. Although he wishes he could, the prime minister cannot take action since the matter affects Lebanon’s stability.
The Association of Banks in Lebanon declared that it will end its strike only when Judge Ghada Aoun, the Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor, halted her legal prosecutions. Also, it urged the Supreme Judicial Council to halt some judge prosecutions and stop depositor litigation against banks.
The group has resisted being held solely accountable for the financial catastrophe in the nation.
“The black market in Lebanon is outside the supervision of the central bank, which has grown unable to manage crises since answers require a real national initiative,” central bank governor Riad Salameh told Al-Qahera News.
In the meantime, the anti-corruption group The People Want to Change the System declared that judge Aoun had made the decision on Monday to accuse Societe Generale and its chairman, Antoun Sehnaoui, of money laundering and to freeze the bank’s assets. The judge’s decision was based on a complaint the association had filed.
