Beirut, Lebanon — Lebanon’s cabinet on Thursday named asset manager Karim Souaid as central bank governor, official media reported, a post crucial to implementing economic reforms demanded by the international community.
“The cabinet appointed Karim Souaid as central bank governor,” the official National News Agency said.
Born in 1964, Souaid officially takes over after embattled former chief Riad Salameh’s term expired in July 2023 with no designated successor.
Divided politicians had since failed to agree on a permanent replacement for Salameh, who has been accused at home and abroad of financial crimes.
First vice-governor Wassim Manssouri had been acting head of the central bank, a post that is traditionally reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system of governorship.
Souaid is the founder and managing partner at Gulf-based Growthgate, according to his biography on the private investment firm’s website.
It says he previously worked at financial establishments including HSBC Bank and has been involved in privatization initiatives in a number of Arab countries.
He studied law at Lebanon’s St Joseph University and at Harvard Law School in the United States, according to the biography.
He has also worked as a corporate finance attorney in New York, and is a member of the New York State Bar Association, it says.
Lebanon has been mired since 2019 in an economic collapse that has seen the local currency lose most of its value against the dollar and pushed much of the population into poverty.
The central bank governor in Lebanon is named by cabinet decree for a six-year mandate that can be renewed multiple times, based on the finance minister’s recommendation.
