Lebanese MP Jamil Al-Sayyed accused the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, of withdrawing dollars from the market by purchasing them in collusion with others.
According to a tweet on "Twitter," General Jamil Al-Sayyed stated that Governor Riad Salameh responded to his allegation of manipulating the dollar, saying that he does not have enough dollars to support essential goods and stabilize the lira against the dollar. He continued: "This is true, but the problem is not here; the problem, as investigations have shown, is that he and the banks are buying dollars from the market in collusion with some money changers." The Lebanese MP concluded his tweet by saying, "Stop buying dollars, and its price will automatically drop."
The dollar price in Lebanon has been steadily rising for about a year, recently reaching a peak of 9,325 lira for buying and 9,250 lira for selling. The decline of the Lebanese lira against the dollar coincides with the continued absence of any solutions for forming a government or restoring the flow of foreign currency through official channels in the country, alongside the ongoing revival of the parallel market.
According to media reports, Lebanon needs about $93 billion to rescue its economy, according to a report from the American Institute for Democracy Defense, while the inflation rate in Lebanon has reached 500% year-on-year and more than 125% month-on-month, according to a report published by the Lebanese newspaper "An Nahhar." The total public debt in Lebanon by the end of the first quarter of this year reached $90 billion, amounting to 170% of the GDP, coinciding with unemployment, high living costs, and poor infrastructure levels.
