Banque du Liban Circular 161, which extended work today until January 31, 2022, sparked a state of complete chaos within banks, as it allowed all soldiers to withdraw their monthly salaries from inside the bank and not through ATMs, on the exchange rate, in dollars in cash, provided that the value of this amount was spent on the parallel market exchange rate.

In other words, if the military’s monthly salary amounts to 1.5 million pounds, he will be able to withdraw it in dollars in cash, equal to about 86 dollars, and return to spend it on the black market, bringing it to 1,840 thousand pounds. Consequently, the Banque du Liban enlisted the entire military apparatus today to raise 300,000 pounds. Noting that the banks applied this decision voluntarily, as some of them refrained from paying salaries in dollars if there were no accounts in “lollar”, or if the military had withdrawn their salaries early this month, which exacerbated the crisis and led to the outbreak of problems within the banks.

The economist Antoine Farah joins us to discuss this topic.

Various Lebanese regions, including the capital, Beirut, are witnessing a decline in the level of internet and communications services during separate times of the day, while the country is threatened by internet interruption unless a solution is found on how to pay the amounts in dollars to internet companies, while the government has two options: either to continue In supporting the sector and draining the reserves from the Banque du Liban or losing the service, or pricing the cost of the service on the real exchange rate of the dollar.

In this context, Ogero Director General Imad Kreidieh explained that legal procedures are being taken to purchase fuel for the maintenance and operation of the network so that the festive period passes well, and the internet service will be secured in all regions during the festive period and the days that follow.