A draft law has been passed in Lebanon, which aims to tackle a years-long financial crisis.
The Lebanese economy has struggled for six years, after a collapse between the central bank, commercial banks, depositors and the state itself, but the new draft legislation has faced heavy pushback.
It passed through the cabinet at the end of last week with a vote of 13 to 9, despite the opposition from ministers across the political spectrum, and protests outside government headquarters.
The law, known as the “financial gap”, is aiming to help depositors, who have been frozen out of accessing their savings, to start to recover their money from the 2019 collapse, with depositors stating it does not protect them enough.
“The banking sector’s credibility has been severely damaged. This law aims to revive it by valuing assets, recapitalising banks, and ending Lebanon’s dangerous reliance on a cash economy,” said Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam during a press conference.
