On Monday, Lebanon’s deputy prime minister Saade Chami said that the government plan to help revive the economy would not be able to pay back all depositors.
Lebanon has been suffering from a three-year financial crisis, which saw the black-market rate of the Lebanese pound drop over 95 percent of its value against the dollar, and leaving over 80 percent of the country’s population living below the poverty line.
The country’s cabinet passed a new recovery roadmap in May, created by Chami, which includes measures that have been mandated by the International Monetary Fund to unlock $3 billion in funding.
The Lebanese economy has long been dependent on the country’s large and geographically diverse expatriate community to send money home – but these deposits have been frozen as authorities try to prevent a run on the country’s banks.
The country’s plan to help fill a $72 billion financial blackhole will now not be able to “save all depositors,” according to Chami, Reuters reported.
Chami added that accounts holding more than $100,000 will be refunding using a fund financed by assets of the central bank and commercial banks, according to Reuters.
For those with accounts of less than $100,000, no further details were shared.
In total, Lebanon holds only between $25 billion to $30 billion in foreign currency reserves, including gold, Chami said.
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