by arabnews — Najia Houssari — BEIRUT: The Banque du Liban has informed the Economy Ministry and other concerned ministries of the …

by thearabweekly.com -- BEIRUT – Lebanon’s lights may go off this month because cash for electricity generation is running out, a lawmaker said on Thursday, as the country grapples with a deep economic crisis. Lebanon’s parliament had approved a $200 million emergency loan to finance fuel imports for power generation in March, but a committee reviewing the loan has yet to approve it. “We should not forget that starting May 15, gradual darkness will start,” said Nazih Negm, a member of parliament, according to a government statement released after he met the caretaker finance and energy ministers. The Lebanese have long learned to live with regular power cuts that run for at least three hours a day in the capital and much longer in other areas, because the state’s power plants cannot meet demand. Many people rely on private generators. But the financial crisis has exacerbated the heavily-indebted nation’s problems, as the government struggles to find enough foreign exchange to pay for fuel and other basic imports.

The loan, approved by lawmakers in March, is being reviewed by a constitutional committee, which is studying whether it is lawful. The government resigned after a massive blast in Beirut in August and is now acting in a caretaker capacity. “We hope that the constitutional committee does not take a month to reach its decision because the situation can’t wait,” Negm said, according to the government statement. Lebanon usually keeps enough fuel for about two months or so, as it is too costly to hold strategic reserves for longer. The economic meltdown, the biggest crisis since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, has fuelled unrest, locked depositors out of their accounts and hammered the currency, which has lost around 90% of its value against the dollar. Earlier in March, Lebanon’s caretaker energy minister warned the country would plunge into “total darkness” at the end of the month if no money was secured to buy fuel for power stations.

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stressed during his meetings with Lebanese officials on Thursday that “the French initiative to solve the crisis in forming the Lebanese government is still in force and the responsibility for implementing it rests with the Lebanese.” Arab News has learned that Le Drian also hinted that sanctions might be imposed against those who obstruct the formation of the new government. On the eve of his arrival in Beirut, Le Drian tweeted that he would deliver “a strongly worded message to political officials and a message expressing our full solidarity with the Lebanese people. We will deal firmly with those who obstruct the formation of the government, and we have taken national measures, and this is only the beginning.” He also said that his visit to Lebanon “confirms France’s solidarity in the field of education, medicine, and archeology as well as its support for the Lebanese who are doing their best for their country.”

Following the Beirut port blast in August, French President Emmanuel Macron announced an initiative to help form a government of specialists to help lift Lebanon out of its economic crisis. However, Macron’s initiative has not yet been implemented, so people in Lebanon followed Le Drian’s meetings with interest. Before Le Drian’s visit there was speculation that he did not intend to meet with Prime Minister-designate, Saad Hariri, but might meet with the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil. Some had predicted that Hariri would give up his post as PM-designate due to his ongoing disagreement with President Michel Aoun and his political team over the formation of the new government, with Aoun reportedly demanding a ‘blocking third’ for his allies.

english.aawsat.com -- A Lebanese judge has ordered a protective freeze of some properties and company stakes of 14 individuals with links to some of Lebanon’s biggest banks, a move the lenders said could further isolate them from international financial networks. The asset freezes, listed in a judicial document seen by Reuters, are part of a legal complaint lodged by lawyers belonging to a civil society group on behalf of Lebanese depositors. Lebanon’s banks were once among the world’s more profitable lenders, funneling funds from a scattered diaspora into state coffers in return for high interest rates. But as Lebanon’s economic meltdown gathered pace and dollar remittaces dried up, the financial system was starved of funding.

The complaint accuses local banks, which have frozen customers out of their deposits and blocked them from transferring cash abroad since the crisis erupted in late 2019, of crimes including negligence and fraud. Lenders have denied any wrongdoing and have repeatedly said that customers’ deposits are safe. “The Lebanese banks, the majority of them, have taken over the deposits of their customers and then against the law lent these deposits to the government and to the central bank, which spent it on their international commitments and on salaries,” Hasan Bazy, one of the lawyers who brought the case forward, told Reuters, adding that more complaints would be forthcoming. “These banks and their managers have assets in companies and have real estate and we wanted these to be blocked so that they can be used as a guarantee for the money of depositors in case it can’t be retrieved.”