Gov’t rejects responsibility
to secure all bank deposits

Accounts greater than $100,000 to profit

from a fund financed by BDL and banks

The two ministers in charge of financial recovery have declared that the government will not step up to ensure that deposits in banks will be returned to their owners.

The government’s recovery plan will not be able to pay back all depositors in full, said Saade Chami, Deputy Prime Minister who is leading the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Deposits valued at more than $100,000 will be returned through a fund financed by the assets of the Central Bank (BDL) and commercial banks, Chami said. He did not disclose details on how this financing will be secured, especially that neither BDL nor the banks have assets whose value is equivalent to the deposits.

Minister of Finance Youssef El Khalil said: “The State cannot finance whatever and however is asked of it, and the recovery of deposits should not come exclusively from its own pocket.”

According to Chami, total foreign currency reserves, including gold, stand at $25 billion to $30 billion “at best.”

Implementing the recovery plan will help unlock relief funding from the IMF worth $3 billion. The losses of the financial system are estimated at $72 billion.