Nicolas Chammas, the President of the Beirut Traders Association and Secretary General of the Economic Bodies, announced that the situation is not encouraging, but the tremendous effort being made by the private sector is promising, and the status of the productive, commercial, and tourism sectors is good. Chammas stated in an interview with MTV, "The state always opposes us, and 90 percent of the campaign against traders is unjust. We invest our own funds, and the sector continues without bank credit. Our primary demand is to reduce taxes and reach a settlement with the tax administration that satisfies everyone."
He continued, "The economic bodies are working on the issue of currency exchange and adopting a rate of 8,000 lira for the customs dollar. We are seeking a genuine partnership between the private and public sectors in the recovery plan." He pointed out, "We have presented an alternative financial recovery plan to the government, and there must be protection for private ownership, distribution of responsibilities, and collection of people's rights. The goal of the economic bodies is to save and restore as much as possible of the deposits and return them to depositors, but not before 7 years."
He added that the translation of the financial recovery plan involves restoring balance to the financial system and restructuring the banks because "taking away" the banks means automatically "taking away" the deposits, urging depositors to demand a plan similar to that of the economic bodies to preserve what remains of the deposits.
