Free Patriotic Movement head Gebran Bassil. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Free Patriotic Movement head Gebran Bassil said Tuesday that “the resumption of the government’s work after three months of inactivity is a positive step but insufficient,” stressing the need for it to be “productive” and “effective.”
Here’s what we know:
• During a press conference held after the weekly meeting of his parliamentary bloc, Bassil accused Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast, criticizing the "standstill" of the investigation, as well as the fact that certain people close to the bloc are still under arrest.
• Bassil had also criticized Banque Du Liban Governor Riad Salameh, describing the latest series of BDL circulars as "random” – particularly 161, which has been extended recently, allowing banks to buy as many US dollars from the central bank as they want, in exchange for lira held in their accounts and their clients’ accounts, at the prevailing Sayrafa rate.
• “How did dollars suddenly appear and how could the central bank intervene to lower the exchange rate of the dollar against the Lebanese pound?” Bassil said, claiming that these changes stand as “proof that [the fluctuation] of the exchange rate with the dollar is political and artificial,” and stating that it “is the duty of the BDL to stop playing with the exchange rate.”