Lebanese depositors will gradually get their money back as part of any financial reform, with the state, the central bank, and local banks sharing the burden of rebuilding the crisis-hit economy, Economy Minister Amer Bsat told Bloomberg TV.

"Depositor protection is an extremely important part of the objectives we have put in place. This may require the use of specific instruments, deadlines, or the passage of time to make payments, but the idea is that no depositor will lose their funds. However, this will likely take time," Bsat explained in this interview, his first with international media.

The minister stated that the country's financial crisis, which began in 2019, requires a "collective solution" in which each stakeholder contributes. However, it is also necessary to ensure the survival of the banking sector and the Central Bank's ability to implement its monetary policy. "There is a limit to what we can impose on each of them," said Bsat.

On Saturday, the Cabinet adopted the draft law on banking restructuring, which has now been submitted to Parliament. The government recently submitted a new request for financial assistance to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which expects the bill to be adopted quickly. The IMF also hopes that Parliament will adopt the banking secrecy reform, already approved by the executive, so that it no longer constitutes an obstacle to restructuring the sector.

In 2019, following Lebanon's economic and financial collapse, which led to a rapid devaluation of the Lebanese Lira and a sovereign debt default, Lebanese banks imposed severe restrictions on withdrawals, freezing a large portion of deposits, leading to a significant loss of savings for thousands of Lebanese, exacerbating distrust in the banking sector.