BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s central bank governor says the bank will secure foreign currency for some imports in a move that is expected to ease the demand for hard currency.
Riad Salameh’s comments on Monday came a day after hundreds protested in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon over a worsening economic crisis, compounded by worries that Lebanon’s dollar-reliant currency is losing value for the first time in more than two decades.
Lebanon is facing a deep-running fiscal crisis as it staggers under one of the highest debt ratios in the world, at $86 billion — or more than 150% of the country’s gross domestic product.
Salameh said after meeting President Michel Aoun that the central bank will secure foreign currency needs of the private and public sectors, according to official prices.
Photo: Anti-government protesters on a scooter pass tires that were set on fire to block a road during a demonstration, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. Hundreds of Lebanese are protesting an economic crisis that has worsened over the past two weeks, with a drop in the local currency for the first time in more than two decades. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
