Banking risk and capacity building expert, Dr. Muhammad Fahaili, confirmed to Voice of Beirut International correspondent, Mahasin Mursal, that the recent statement of the Banks Association is nothing but a continuation of the series of disappointments regarding the relationship of banks with depositors, and he explained, “The statement includes technical errors, for example its first article talks about fixing the exchange rate 30 years ago. When we emerged from the non-civil war where the situation of the Lebanese pound was deplorable, the authorities adopted the so-called full dollarization. Economy, where they were obligated to fix the exchange rate in order to give the impression that the local currency is as stable as the other currency that will be fixed with it. This impression worked and money flowed into Lebanon, and the primary beneficiary of this flow was the banking sector.

Fahaili asserted that he “does not blame the Lebanese state and there is no discussion with the banking sector that the political authority has failed, wasted, and spread corruption in the country, and the Lebanese are disgusted by the reciprocal accusations between the political authority and the banking sector.” He confirmed that “The state would not be able to waste the depositors’ money if they did not hand over the money to it on a silver platter, either directly from the banking sector or through the Central Bank. As soon as the the state began to convert part of its domestic debt into debt in dollars to reduce pressure on interest in the Lebanese currency,it should have required banks to liberalize the exchange rate, and after the state succeeded in February 2015 of borrowing 1.2 billion billion Then, in September, tried to borrow again. The Economist warned that we shouls pay attentionto  this  excess of borrowing , and in 2018 the banks stopped the subscription, but their appetite for placements at the Banque du Liban, knowing that the Banque du Liban supported the state, transformed the banking sector from a supporter of corruption into a savior of failure. .

Thus depositors’ money is not mentioned by the Association of Banks at all, it is only limited to holding the Lebanese state responsible for its loss.