A delegation from the Association of Banks in Lebanon said during a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, that banks are “ready to lend the private sector if this step will be accompanied by a law that gives banks a guarantee that these loans will be returned to the banks according to the loan’s currency.”

The delegation stressed the banking sector’s readiness to cooperate and help the state in getting out from this current crisis, considering that political stalemate is increasing the losses of the state, banks and depositors.

The President of the Association of Banks, Salim Sfeir, stressed “the importance of approving the Capital Control Law to preserve the remaining cash inside Lebanon, as well as preserving the rights of small depositors.” Mikati pledged to accelerate the approval of this law after agreeing with the other parties.

Sfeir also stressed “the necessity of restructuring government bonds and unifying the exchange rate in order to be able to determine the size of the losses and solve it.”

Minister of Labor Mustafa Bayram announced that the indicator committee had reached an agreement that “the daily transportation allowance in the private sector will become 65,000 LBP per day,” and school grants will be 1 million LBP for public education and 2 million LBP for private schools. But the dispute is still about the value of the monthly assistance that employees will receive and the possibility of calculating it within the basis of the salary to support the revenues of the National Social Security Fund.

To comment more on this subject, Mohamed Shams El-Din, member of the Index Committee and researcher in International Information, joined us.

The Union of Bakeries called for a solution to the weekly price of loaves, according to the platform, because the sharp fluctuations in the prices of raw materials used for producing bread are threatening the continuation of bread production.

The union said that there was a prior agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Trade to reconsider the price index of the materials used in the loaf industry, down or up, in order to adjust the price on this basis. A meeting was held and a new price was reached, but the Minister of Economy did not sign it without knowing the reasons. Accordingly, the union announced that it would invite the General Assembly to convene within the next two days to take the appropriate steps in this regard.