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The head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, claimed that billions of dollars in deposits by Syrians held in the Lebanese financial sector after a major financial crisis are one of the main causes of the worsening of the Syrian economic crisis.
Lebanese banks, which fear capital exodus and grapple with a severe currency crisis, have imposed strict controls on withdrawals and transfers of funds abroad since last year, angering local and foreign depositors who are unable to access. to your savings.
Assad said that between 20 billion and 42 billion of the deposits may have been lost in the once active banking sector that had hard currency deposits of more than $ 170 billion.
“This figure for the Syrian economy is an alarming figure,” he said.
“The money was taken and landed in Lebanon and we paid the price, and this is the essence of the problem that nobody talks about,” added al-Assad, who spoke during a tour of a trade fair that was broadcast in official media. .
And Syrian businessmen say strict controls imposed by Lebanon on withdrawals have seized hundreds of millions of dollars that were used to import oil and basic goods into Syria, according to Reuters.
Bankers and businessmen also say that many Syrian front companies have been circumventing Western sanctions by using the Lebanese banking system to import prohibited goods into Syria by land.
And the US Treasury has blacklisted dozens of these companies.
Al-Assad said: “The current economic burdens are not caused by the Caesar Law, the maximum US sanctions imposed on Damascus to date, which came into effect last June,” noting that “the current crisis started before the Law. Caesar and started years after the blockade … This is the money that entered the Lebanese banks. ” “.
Syrian authorities have blamed Western sanctions for the widespread hardships among ordinary citizens, as the collapse of the currency since the beginning of the year has led to higher prices and the suffering of citizens to obtain bread and basic supplies.
Last month, the government faced a severe fuel shortage and was forced to raise bread prices as wheat supplies dwindled, compounding discontent among a population weary of a decade-long war.
