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The source said on Friday that “the captain of the money changer has been arrested, based on a signal from the Malian Prosecutor, because the money exchangers bought the dollar at very high prices, leading to strong speculation and manipulation of the pound Lebanese. ” His investigation is still ongoing.
He noted that “over the past two weeks, around 50 ATMs have been arrested, those of whom have signed promises not to tamper with the dollar and have been released, while the unauthorized have been referred to various judges for investigation” .
Since the summer, it first appeared in Lebanon in parallel market contracts, in which the value of the local currency gradually decreased, while the official exchange rate is still set at 1507.
Faced with the accelerated collapse, the Bank of Lebanon requested at the end of last month that the money changers not exceed the sale price of the 3,200 pound dollar. Since then, however, the lira has seen an unprecedented decline in value, to cross the 4100 pound threshold against the US dollar on today’s black market.
For the past two weeks, security forces launched a campaign against ATMs that closed their offices, and many of them worked underground, while the lira continued to collapse.
The country has been experiencing for months the worst economic crisis in its modern history with a severe shortage of liquidity and a significant decline in foreign reserves.
Since September, banks have imposed strict procedures on cash operations and the withdrawal of funds. The outbreak of the new Corona virus exacerbated the crisis, after banks were unable to fully provide their customers with the dollar.
In April, the Central Bank of Lebanon asked banks to pay customer withdrawals of their dollar deposits in Lebanese pounds. Banks have set their exchange rate at three thousand liras.
“We have to buy the dollar on the black market because we need to secure the dollar on a daily basis for merchants, especially food and meat merchants, because the Banque du Liban and the banks do not believe in the dollar and therefore there is no dollar except on the black market, “one of the money changers told France Press.
The Money Exchange Union issued a statement calling Mourad’s arrest “an unfortunate incident.” She emphasized her commitment to “the regulatory teachings that set the US dollar exchange rate, despite the difficulty of adhering to any predetermined price in a mobile market that is controlled by the strength of supply and demand.”
The Lebanese government last week approved a reform plan, under which it submitted a request to the International Monetary Fund to help Lebanon out of a cycle of accelerated economic collapse that has brought nearly half the population below the threshold. of poverty.
According to the Minister of Finance, the plan adopts “the flexible exchange rate policy in the next stage in a gradual and deliberate manner.”
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