LEBANON/BANK-RUN!!!"I would have never imagined that we would have to beg the banks for $ 100 ”

At bank counters, customers are suffering endless waits and humiliation for nothing more than a handful of dollars.In the January cold, they are waiting their turn outside, hoping to withdraw a few hundred US dollars. It's eight o’clock in the morning. Employees are just starting to arrive. Customers are already lining up in front of the glass door of the bank so they can be the first ones to enter. Among them are retirees with savings books, young people who have lost confidence in the system, professionals used to managing their business in dollars, artisans panicked at the idea of seeing their savings go up in smoke, worried women eager to pay their monthly bills on time. Even after taking their number there is no guarantee. Only the earliest arrivals will be able to withdraw the precious foreign currencies from their account, foreign money is becoming scarcer every day, ever since the implementation of drastic banking restrictions, the depreciation of the Lebanese pound, the creation of a parallel market among money changers, and the interruption of online banking procedures. But everyone is taking the chance. One never knows.
In front of this SGBL branch in Mansouryeh, there are already about forty people, and their number is increasing by the minute. When the doors open at 8:30 a.m., customers rush in and dash towards the number dispenser. Their wait is far from over. "The dollars have not yet arrived”, says a branch official. Disappointment becomes visible on the faces. With their number in hand, customers go out to smoke a cigarette, go shopping, or go about their business. Others prefer to stay warm and wait indoors, afraid of losing their turn.

Sami, a father who plans on withdrawing 200 dollars, angrily expresses his humiliation, his bitterness, his disgust for the political class, which he believes has stolen the country’s public funds, to L’Orient-Le Jour. "We just want to live, but it's always the people who end up paying the price for their leaders’ mistakes”, says this sixty-year-old corporate director who had to leave his office for a few hours, for fear of being deprived of the savings -in dollars- he has amassed over the years. This is the first time that this man has contemplated emigration, because he thinks that “anything can happen, including losing one’s money”. Leila, a grandmother in sneakers, had repatriated all her savings from the Arab countries, where her husband used to work. She hoped to enjoy a peaceful retirement in Lebanon. And there she is, being forced to beg the banks for her own money, and waste her time endlessly waiting.

Just like the people mentioned above, the majority of depositors have placed their money in foreign currencies ever since the Lebanese pound has threatened to collapse. According to official statistics, the dollarization rate of bank deposits in Lebanon amounted to 72.9% in September 2019. This shows the lack of confidence in the national currency. But with the recent restrictions put in place by banks, obtaining foreign currency has become a real brain teaser, unless one buys dollars from a currency trader at 2,400 LL, or even 2,500 LL - according to the parallel prices of January 9 and 10; but, people are refusing to do so, as the official rate remains unchanged (between 1,515 and 1 520 LL). "What choice do we have other than standing here and waiting several times a week? Our payment cards have become useless. The ATMs no longer give out dollars, and the majority of traders and businesses insist on being paid in cash”, yells Zena, a mother waiting for her turn, a coffee mug in hand. She adds that she came to pay her bank draft in Lebanese pounds. In order to do this, she drew dollars which she exchanged into pounds on the black market, and made her payment at the official rate, which allowed her to save a significant amount of money. "Why do I have to be taken for a ride?", she asked, calling on the authorities to regulate the market and impose all transactions in the national currency. [link to www.lorientlejour.com (secure)]