Beirut, Lebanon — Acting Lebanese Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri has said the bank will not be providing government lending to cover Lebanon’s 2023 state budget deficit. This applies to both the Lebanese lira and the US dollar.
“The Central Bank has no plans to address the nation’s deficit through government loans, irrespective of the currency – Lebanese pounds or US dollars,” he told reporters.
Despite challenges, Mansouri emphasized the country’s monetary stability. He credited traditional monetary methods for maintaining this stability and assured that the bank’s actions from the previous month did not impact its foreign currency reserves.
On civil servants’ salaries, Mansouri assured that public sector employees would receive their wages for the current month in US dollars, with an exchange rate set at 85,500 liras.