MP and former Minister Ali Hassan Khalil gives a press conference on March 12, 2021. (Credit: Ali Fawwaz/Parliament)
BEIRUT — Amal Movement’s members of Parliament Ali Hassan Khalil and Nasser Jaber on Monday submitted to Parliament a law that prohibits the government or Banque du Liban from “messing with bank deposits, or reducing or haircuts from it from any side and disregarding the reason for the nature of this act, be it direct or indirect," the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• According to the NNA, the law also prohibits the government from taking any decision that opposes this law, “particularly when approving or implementing any of the financial decisions to encounter the economical or financial situation of the country.”
• In March 2021, BDL’s foreign currency reserves were $16.7 billion according to the Prime Minister at the time Hassan Diab which was less than the 15 percent of their total foreign currency liabilities at BDL — most of which ultimately belong to depositors, and which Salameh had stated that he would not surpass.
• On June 3, BDL’s Governor Riad Salameh said in an interview that the central bank's foreign currency reserves amounted to $11.8 billion.
• Ali Hassan Khalil was charged for his connection to the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut explosion, as well as MP Ghazi Zeaiter, who were both reelected during the May 2022 parliamentary elections.