Exclusive, “Akhbar al-Yawm” agency

Terzian to "Akhbar Al-Yawm": the closure of banks and the transformation of the economy into cash have increased the crisis

Since the beginning of the financial, monetary and economic crisis, the prices of food commodities and everything a citizen needs in his life are rising daily. With the launch of the dollar pricing yesterday, it can be said that the real chaos has intensified and the profits have become "fictional”.

Commenting on this reality, MP Hagop Terzian wrote yesterday on his Twitter account: "a supermarket selling goods at LBP 88,000 during the day and if early in the morning the supermarket owners buy hard currency at LBP 70,000 on Sayrafa from depositors' funds means 26% net profit, and a Depositor withdraws money at a rate of LBP 15,000, all this means fraud and scam".

In the same context, Terzian pointed out via the "Akhbar Al-Yawm" agency that for a while there has been a big disparity between the dollar on the Sayrafa platform and the profits made by the trader, while the loss is great for the "citizen".

In response to a question, Terzian considered that this profit, which has been achieved over many months, can cover the financial gap in the Banque du Liban, estimated at 72 billion dollars.

In addition, Terzian regretted the "evil game" being played at a high level, considering that what aggravated the crisis since October 2019 was the closure of banks for 21 days, instead of continuing their normal functioning, contributed to raising the level of fear among people for their money. Then, what made matters worse was the transformation of the economy into cash, where there is no room for dealing only through fiat currencies, while it was supposed to keep the electronic card system and checks where money is transferred from one account to another within the Lebanese territory, and controls are put through capital control to prevent its exit from the country, similar to what happened in Greece previously.

Noting that the cost of printing banknotes has become greater than their value, he concluded, wondering how a parallel market was created to exchange money "on motorcycles".