BEIRUT, Mar 11 (NNN-NNA) – A Lebanese judge, yesterday issued travel bans, against the heads of the boards of five big Lebanese banks.
Ghada Aoun issued the bans against Salim Sfeir of the Bank of Beirut, Samir Hanna of Bank Audi, Antoun Sehnaoui of SGBL, Saad Azhari of BLOM Bank, and Raya Hassan of Bankmed.
Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister, Saade Chami, said a day earlier that, a hole in Lebanon’s financial system is expected to grow to 73 billion U.S. dollars, and losses in the central bank reserve will increase as the country’s financial crisis remains unaddressed.
Lebanese financial experts accused commercial banks of depositing clients’ foreign currency deposits at the Central Bank of Lebanon, in return for high interest rates.
Meanwhile, the central bank used the clients’ deposits to stabilise the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound, and finance the state’s budget deficit, experts said.
Lebanon has been facing an unprecedented financial crisis, amid steep shortage of foreign currency, creating the biggest financial gap in Lebanon’s monetary and economic history.
