The Central Bank of Lebanon began transferring salaries for the month of June to members of the diplomatic corps working abroad on Monday. This occurred after communication between Minister of Finance in the caretaker government, Youssef Khalil, and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to transfer these salaries in US dollars, with the last salary paid to these missions being in May. An administrative and financial source concerned with the diplomatic missions file indicated that "the Central Bank transferred only the salary for June, after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent the salaries for July and August to the Central Bank last week to be converted into dollar currency."
The same source noted that "salaries prior to June have been fully transferred to the missions, albeit at an inconsistent pace." Regarding the existence of a promise from the Central Bank to transfer the remaining salaries for the missions, he stated to MTV that "the issue is not about promises from the Central Bank, but the problem has always been the disagreement between the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance over the exchange rate for converting currencies from pounds to dollars." He added that "so far, an exchange rate of 1,500 Lebanese pounds is being used to convert salaries, as required by the Ministry of Finance, while the Central Bank demands that salaries be converted at the exchange rate of the Sayrafa platform."
Only one salary has been transferred to the missions, and salaries for July and August have not yet been transferred, despite members of the corps being abroad and needing their income to organize their affairs. In detail, mission heads receive their rent payments from operating costs, and wealthy missions try to transfer some funds to missions in other countries. However, the biggest problem is faced by diplomats who pay rent from their salaries, which they have not received for months, forcing them to borrow from relatives and spend from their savings.
