The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development warned that the escalation of the crisis in the Middle East will lead to a worsening of the political and economic situation in Lebanon, and will also harm neighboring countries, including Jordan and Egypt.
The bank’s chief economist, Beata Javorczyk, said: “The escalating crisis in the Middle East, with Israel’s bombing of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, would exacerbate the political and economic crisis in Lebanon and harm neighboring countries such as Jordan and Egypt,” adding: “It is very likely “Countries close to the conflict in the Middle East will see an increase in risk premiums, and therefore their borrowing costs will be higher.”
The bank revised its growth expectations to 2.8% this year and 3.5% for 2025, a decrease of 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively.
In turn, the Lebanese Al-Nashra website reported on Wednesday that the Bank of Lebanon will offer more than $150 million in the market.
The Lebanese website said that, in light of the continuation of the financial and economic crises that struck Lebanon and greatly affected the country’s cash liquidity, the acting Governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Wassim Mansouri, and his deputies took a decision to mitigate the repercussions of the crisis on the Lebanese and raise the ceiling on withdrawals for depositors.
He added that the Bank of Lebanon issued a statement confirming that the Central Council of the Bank, in its meeting held on September 25, 2024, took an exceptional decision to confront the emergency circumstances that the country is going through, as the Council asked the banks to raise the value of cash withdrawals for beneficiaries of Basic Circulars No. 158 and 166 by three times. This will happen next October.
The decision, which comes as an exceptional one-time decision, includes making three monthly payments at once to the beneficiaries, which means a significant increase in the amounts available for withdrawal.
According to official figures, the number of beneficiaries of Circular No. 158 is about 150,000, with the monthly payment ranging between 300 and 400 US dollars.
As for Circular No. 166, the number of its beneficiaries is between 50 and 60 thousand beneficiaries.
The Al-Nashra website stated that the total cost of the three payments will be approximately 157.5 million US dollars for the beneficiaries of Circular No. 158, and approximately 22.5 million US dollars for the beneficiaries of Circular No. 166, indicating that the treasury of the Bank of Lebanon will bear the costs of the two additional payments.
Last updated: September 27, 2024 – 13:48
Suggest a correction
2024-09-27 14:48:26