ABL building façade in downtown Beirut, Aug. 7, 2025. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient-Le Jour)
No matter how much Lebanese authorities try to project a unified stance in official media on how to address the banking crisis and the issue of lost deposits, reality tells a different story.The issue is at a standstill.No tangible or lasting progress has been made — whether on the draft law to reform the banking sector or on how to fill the notorious “financial gap,” which in reality represents vanished deposits. Side effects of standstill When the risk of a deadlock with IMF also hangs over World Bank loans Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are also stagnating on several key points related to bank restructuring and depositor protection.The events of recent days illustrate this deadlock vividly.Deep divisions reemerged between members of the government on one side and the central bank and ABL on the other — a scene...
No matter how much Lebanese authorities try to project a unified stance in official media on how to address the banking crisis and the issue of lost deposits, reality tells a different story.The issue is at a standstill.No tangible or lasting progress has been made — whether on the draft law to reform the banking sector or on how to fill the notorious “financial gap,” which in reality represents vanished deposits. Side effects of standstill When the risk of a deadlock with IMF also hangs over World Bank loans Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are also stagnating on several key points related to bank restructuring and depositor protection.The events of recent days illustrate this deadlock vividly.Deep divisions reemerged between members of the government on one side and the central bank and ABL on the other — a...
