Lebanese Ministry of Information
Lebanese President Michel Aoun today said that measures would be taken to hold accountable all those who contributed to the country’s financial crisis through illegal actions by transferring money abroad or manipulating bonds in foreign currencies.
“There is information that we are still in need of with regards to the banking situation. There are measures that we will take to hold to account all who participated in bringing the crisis to where it is,” Aoun wrote on Twitter.
In a similar context, the Lebanese Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said that his country was seeking technical advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“We are in a phase of technical advice exclusively,” Wazni was quoted by Reuters as saying, stressing: “Assistance comes in the coming period.”
Wazni held a meeting with an IMF delegation which arrived in the Lebanese city of Beirut on today, in an effort to tackle the country’s economic crisis.
Lebanon is currently in the midst of its worst economic and financial crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990. The new Lebanese government is facing soaring inflation, and a local currency which has lost much of its value in recent months.
Banks have imposed informal capital controls, but these measures have failed to stem the flight of capital from the country.
The small country has one of the highest debt to GDP ratios in the world, at 151 per cent, according to Bloomberg.
Middle East Monitor
