Beirut – Lebanon appointed Karim Souaid Asset Manager for the Central Bank’s position on Thursday as the government Try to reform the economy after months of war and decades of mismanagement and corruption.
The country’s economy has been in crisis for five years and desperately needs reforms to unlock international aid, and in addition to that, the 14 -month war of Israel With Hezbollah caused what the World Bank estimates $ 11 billion in economic damage and losses.
The appointment was announced by the Prime Minister Nawaf SalamThe jurist of the International Court of Justice who was appointed Premier of Lebanon in January after the election of President Joseph Aoun earlier that month.
Salam said Souaid was chosen for more than two thirds of the 24 members of the Lebanon reformist cabinet, although the prime minister said he did not support the decision. “The Lebanese have asked us for reforms and insist on reforms,” Salam told reporters after the government meeting.
Souaid, an asset manager who was previously a senior executive at HSBC Bank, is seen by critics as supporters with the position of economic reform taken by the country’s banks, and fears that he can sell what remains of the state assets of Lebanon to rescue them.
A unproductive economy and decades of corruption of the political and financial leaders of Lebanon who drained state resources finally led to a race in the banks in 2019. COVID-19, the Mass Explosion of Puerto de Beirut In August 2020 and the Israel-Hezbollah War of a month aggravated the country’s economic problems.
Lebanon has been working with an effective economy, and most of its electricity came from private suppliers, which leads to inflation and leads to almost half of the population to poverty, according to the World Bank.
The country has struggled to reach an international agreement approved by monetary funds to unlock the aid for the economy to be viable again, with the international financial institution asking the Lebanon to end waste, take strong measures against corruption and financial crimes, and restructure their banking sector.
Lebanon commercial banks They have doubted to implement some of these reforms, since it would load them with the tens of billions of dollars in the country in economic losses, they say experts and activists. Banks believe that the State should carry most of that burden, blaming them for breaking by paying the mass debt of the State in 2020 and for their unnecessary expenses.
Souaid had the support of President Aoun, while Salam and a handful of ministers have remained skeptical with him.
“Karim Souaid was not my candidate and we abstained with some ministers due to my concerns regarding the rights of depositors,” Salam told journalists after the cabinet meeting, referring to the concerns that the large amounts of bank deposits may not be returned to the depositors. “You will have to comply with the financial policy of our reformist cabinet.”
Souaid succeeds Riad SalamehThe former 30 -year -old governor, whose term ended with several cases of international corruption presented against him and for embezzlement and other financial crimes. Salameh was appointed in 1993, when Lebanon was fighting to recover after a 15 -year civil war.
Salameh, who is currently detained, was announced as a financial genius to prevent hyperinflation and keep the Lebanese currency stable for years of political tensions and conflicts, and then left his position widely perceived as a key architect of the country’s financial fall.
