Parliamentary committees are due to a the latest draft of the capital control law. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The Depositors Outcry Association on Tuesday evening announced that it would protest tomorrow, Wednesday, at 10 a.m. in Downtown Beirut against the latest capital control law draft, which it describes as a “death penalty to the depositors.” The protest will take place while the law is being discussed by parliamentary committees.
Here’s what we know:
• Earlier Monday, the head of the depositors’ union and the Association of Depositors in Lebanon warned the political class against approving the latest iteration of the draft capital control law, describing the legislation as offering a “blank slate for the banks and Banque Du Liban.”
• At a press conference, the head of the association, Hassan Moghnieh, said that the law in its current form “should not be approved without distributing the losses, unifying the exchange rate and restructuring the banks.”
• Moghnieh also called on the depositors “to take it to the streets soon” and asked the country’s professional syndicates to announce a strike next week.
• On March 28, the cabinet approved a new version of a draft capital control law aimed at legalizing and standardizing the ad hoc banking restrictions put in place at the onset of Lebanon’s financial crisis in 2019.
• In the absence of a capital control law, billions of dollars have reportedly been transferred outside of the country since the country’s unprecedented economic crisis started to take shape.
• An International Monetary Fund team has already met with the various stakeholders while in Lebanon and reached a preliminary agreement on a financial rescue package for which passing the capital control law is a prerequisite, but today’s press conference underscores the fact that that not everyone is approving of the forthcoming economic program, and resistance towards implementation of reforms could delay disbursements of funds.
• On Wednesday, the parliamentary committees will once again discuss the new version of the capital control law.