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CAPITAL CONTROL LAW

UPDATE: Parliament committees meet to discuss capital control draft law amid protest

UPDATE: Parliament committees meet to discuss capital control draft law amid protest

Dozens of protesters gathered outside Parliament on Tuesday morning to criticize the proposed capital control law. (Screenshot LBCI)

BEIRUT — Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building and in front of several banks in Beirut on Tuesday morning to protest the proposed capital control law as a joint parliamentary committee meeting convened to discuss the measure.

Here’s what we know:

    • The Finance and Budget Committee; Administration and Justice Committee; and the National Economy, Trade, Industry and Planning Committee met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the draft law contained in Decree No. 9014.

    • As the meeting took place, protesters gathered in front of Parliament, while dozens also assembled in front of BLOM Bank in Downtown Beirut and knocked with full force on the branch’s main door, amid a deployment of the Lebanese Army. 

    • The capital control draft law aims to legalize and standardize banking restrictions that were put in place at the beginning of the economic crisis in 2019. A capital control law is one of the prerequisites for a preliminary agreement reached with the IMF earlier this year to release billions of dollars in financial assistance to Lebanon.

    • The law was last modified earlier this year amid protests from depositors and civil society groups who described it as a “general amnesty project for banks.” 

BEIRUT — Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building and in front of several banks in Beirut on Tuesday morning to protest the proposed capital control law as a joint parliamentary committee meeting convened to discuss the measure.Here’s what we know:    • The Finance and Budget Committee; Administration and Justice Committee; and the National Economy, Trade,...