The Lebanese government has taken a central bank circular aimed at regulating the relationship between banks and their customers and will study and decide on it within days, Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni told LBC broadcaster Saturday.
Lebanese banks, seeking to prevent capital flight, have tightly controlled access to deposits and blocked most foreign transfers since October, when anti-government protests brought a long-brewing Lebanese economic crisis to a head.
However, the authorities have not introduced formal capital controls regulating these measures.
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh last month sought extraordinary authorization from the caretaker administration in office at the time with the aim of setting standards to ensure all clients were treated fairly.
Salameh told the LBC on Saturday a circular regulating customer-bank relations had been handed over to the new Prime Minister Hassan Diab and Wazni 10 days ago.
If they were to agree to it, the circular “would not include any extraordinary measures,” Salameh told the LBC.
“Operations will continue in banks as usual,” he said. The goal was for “equal and fair treatment among all clients”.
Wazni confirmed that the walker had been taken. “We will study it and decide on the matter within days,” he told the LBC.
