Al Jazeera by Timour Azhari -- Beirut, Lebanon - A judge in Lebanon has suspended a decision by a financial prosecutor to freeze the assets of 20 banks and their chairmen and boards of directors The judge, Ghassan Oueidat, said late on Thursday he has issued a stay of the prosecutor's order so he could study its effects on the country’s monetary situation, bank transactions, depositors’ money, and economic security. The prosecutor, Judge Ali Ibrahim, earlier on Thursday ordered the assets of the banks, their executives and boards of directors to be frozen as part of an investigation into billions of dollars transferred out of the cash-strapped nation.

Ibrahim's order came amid a worsening economic and financial spiral that has Lebanon staring down the barrel of defaulting on a Eurobond repayment due next week. An acute foreign currency shortage has seen the Lebanese pound devalue on parallel markets to lows unprecedented since it was pegged to the US dollar in 1993. Lebanon's economy is dependent on inflows of foreign currency from its large diaspora, but they have dried up as the country descends deeper into a crisis rooted in corruption, government mismanagement, a dilapidated power sector that bleeds billions and the civil war next door in Syria. The dollar shortage has made the scenario of a default on the country's enormous $87bn public debt - the third highest in the world compared with its gross domestic product (GDP) - increasingly likely.

The cabinet will meet on Saturday to decide whether to make good on a much-anticipated $1.2bn Eurobond repayment due on March 9. "Given the negotiations on the Eurobonds with the banks, [Ibrahim's] decision can be seen as a pressure tool on them to accept government conditions," Jad Chaaban, an associate professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera. A senior banking source told Al Jazeera that they view the decision as a further attempt by politicians to shift blame for the country's dire situation onto banks and away from a political class that has ruled Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war. "There is political pressure on the judge to do this. It's as if we are the ones who stole money and hired thousands of people, and wrecked the electricity sector and wasted money on deals. It's a scapegoat," the source said.

by reuters -- A majority of Lebanese Parliament members oppose paying looming Eurobond maturities, even if that leads to default, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday. The announcement compounded doubts over whether the heavily indebted country will meet a March 9 repayment deadline. Lebanon is facing an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, which came to a head last year as capital inflows slowed and protests erupted against the ruling elite. Its next debt maturity is a $1.2bn Eurobond due on March 9.

Senior sources close to two of the main parties that back the government - the powerful Hezbollah, and Berri's Amal Movement - told Reuters news agency that the government was expected to announce a decision not to pay on Friday or Saturday and enter negotiations with bondholders. A source close to the other main backer of the government - the Free Patriotic Movement, founded by President Michel Aoun - said such a declaration may happen unless foreign bondholders made a good offer in time. Berri, one of Lebanon's most influential leaders, made his comments at a weekly meeting of members of Parliament. "We are with any measure the government takes apart from paying," Ali Bazzi, a lawmaker from Berri's parliamentary bloc, cited him as saying.

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