A man in front of an ATM of a bank whose facade was vandalized in Beirut, Sept. 22, 2022.(Credit: AFP)
After sounding the alarm in 2017 about the imminent risk of a large-scale banking crisis — which caused much controversy — you have repeatedly given your prognosis of the crisis and its causes. How do you explain the fact that, three years after the crisis began, these explanations are still necessary?In all these statements, whether written or televised, I am repeating myself for the most part. But it remains necessary because the prevailing official discourse continues to be hammered home to influence the public opinion. This discourse can be summarized as follows: “People put their savings in the banks, which put them in BDL, which lent the money to the government, which squandered it all ... Therefore, the public debt and government corruption are the only culprits.” This is absolutely false! It was the government that financed BDL...
After sounding the alarm in 2017 about the imminent risk of a large-scale banking crisis — which caused much controversy — you have repeatedly given your prognosis of the crisis and its causes. How do you explain the fact that, three years after the crisis began, these explanations are still necessary?In all these statements, whether written or televised, I am repeating myself for the most part. But it remains necessary because the prevailing official discourse continues to be hammered home to influence the public opinion. This discourse can be summarized as follows: “People put their savings in the banks, which put them in BDL, which lent the money to the government, which squandered it all ... Therefore, the public debt and government corruption are the only culprits.” This is absolutely false! It was the government that...
