It’s like a soap opera with a well-known ending.

Security crackdown measures, prosecution of money exchangers and shutdowns of shops will not curb the U.S. dollar exchange rate which has been spiraling in recent months.

The Lebanese authorities got finally aware of the situation and started taking measures aiming to shut and block electronic platforms which have been acting as intermediary in manipulating the USD exchange rate.

“Tracking down electronic applications, shutting down social media pages that trade U.S. dollars and arresting unlicensed money exchangers are important steps. However, they shall be part of a plan to control the spiraling USD exchange rate,” economic journalist Ezza Al Hajj Hassan said in an interview with Sawt Beirut International (SBI) reporter Mahasen Morsel.

“Such steps which the authority has started may be taken at the end of a plan,” the journalist said. “However, shedding light on the closure of these applications as if they were the main reason for the high USD exchange rate is a falsification of reality and a denial of the truth.”

“Lebanon is reeling from a scarcity of U.S. dollars, the causes of which stem from the successive governments and their destructive policies and from the central bank in its capacity as a monetary authority and the other banks which are engaged now in the black market.”

“It’s not about electronic apps. Money exchangers and app operators are taking advantage of the situation to make profits but they’re not the ones responsible for the high USD exchange rate.”

“We have entered a phase where the monetary situation has spiraled out of control and no one can predict where this will lead us,” Al Hajj said, adding that the situation can only be controlled through radical solutions starting from the formation of a government up to making reforms and communicating with the International Monetary Fund.”