The Administration and Justice Committee held a session today, Thursday, at the Parliament chaired by MP Georges Adwan, with attendance from Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh al-Shami and several other MPs, as well as the four deputy governors of the Central Bank.
Adwan indicated after the session that "the financial issue will be further discussed, and a press conference will be held in the coming days to clarify everything." The committee listened to the deputy governors regarding the financial and monetary conditions in the country.
The deputy governors of the Central Bank submitted to the committee a monetary and financial plan that involves revisiting the budget project and enacting capital control laws, restructuring banks, addressing the financial gap, and protecting deposits, in addition to cooperation between the Central Bank, Parliament, and the government in regulating the dollar market.
The plan includes timelines for implementing all these points, with a deadline of November. For his part, the first deputy governor of the Central Bank, Wassim Mansouri, stated, "What has been achieved at the Central Bank and the needs for the coming phase were presented. The primary concern is the interest of all layers, particularly the public sector that is paid in Lebanese pounds. We will wait for the communications that the MPs will make and will inform you about what occurred."
He added, "No results were reached from the meeting, and we will wait in the next two days for the communications to be made by the MPs. At the beginning of next week, we will present the results of these contacts and the position we will take accordingly."
Reuters reported that "the deputy governors of the Central Bank of Lebanon are proposing a transition to a free exchange rate by September."
