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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: LEBANON BANKS
HEADLINE: Depositors Storm Lebanon Banks
TEASER: Lebanon’s beleaguered banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since 2019. Now those depositors are taking action
PUBLISHED AT:
BYLINE: Nicole Di Ilio
CONTRIBUTOR: 11/30/2022 AT 9:20am
DATELINE: BEIRUT
VIDEOGRAPHER: Nicole Di Ilio
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO X
TRT: 2:18
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG, RADIO
UPDATE: For production Wednesday; Nicole’s email is diilio.nicole@gmail.com ))
((INTRO)) [[Lebanon’s beleaguered banks have been seeing a spike of armed holdups by desperate and angry depositors who try to get their money back after their deposits were frozen. The armed holdups are the latest consequence of Lebanon’s imploding economic conditions. For VOA, Nicole Di Ilio has more from Beirut.]]
((NARRATOR))
Exasperated by a three-year financial collapse with no end in sight, people in Lebanon have taken matters into their own hands, demanding their deposits - sometimes by force - in a spate of bank holdups that have led banks to close.
Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein is one of those depositors. On August 11th, he stormed the Federal Bank of Beirut in a desperate attempt to withdraw money from his own account.
((Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, Depositor (MALE IN ARABIC, 18 secs))
“I went to the bank with a gallon of gasoline and my rifle. I went to the manager and I slammed the door. Then, I locked the staff inside it. The manager got me 35 thousand dollars but my whole deposit is $210,000. I want all my money.”
((NARRATOR))
After decades of what critics say was reckless government spending, Lebanon in 2019 began suffering compounding fiscal, monetary, financial and economic crises.
[[RADIO VERSION: Nicolas Chikhani is an independent economist.]]
((Nicolas Chikhani, Economist - MALE IN ENGLISH))
“When the bubble exploded in October 2019, all the money of the depositors, around $150 billion, was frozen in the banking system. This was due to an unformal capital control that was imposed on all deposits without a real law to govern it from the Parliament or from the State of Lebanon.”
((NARRATOR))
Lebanon’s banking associations say the government should implement formal capital controls.
[[RADIO VERSION: That’s the call from Hassan Moughnieh, founder of the Association of Depositors in Lebanon.]]
((Hassan Moughnieh, Association of Depositors in Lebanon - MALE IN ENGLISH 16 secs))
“We ask for an international standard capital control not like the one they are putting nowadays because this one protects the banks and doesn’t protect the depositors. So, we are requesting a capital control with an international standard.”
((NARRATOR))
Politicians say the country's instability is slowing down reforms.
[[RADIO VERSION: Amin Salam, Lebanon’s Minister of Economy and Trade, spoke with VOA.]]
((Amin Salam, Minister of Economy and Trade - MALE IN ENGLISH 16 secs))
We have been pushing to get these things done. But the political turmoil in Lebanon is known to delay everything that relates to ratifying laws, working on draft laws and finalizing laws.”
((NARRATOR))
The intentions of some politicians may hold some promise, but for Lebanese depositors angry and desperate to get access to their money, solutions are not coming soon enough.
((Nicole Di Ilio, for VOA News, Beirut.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateNovember 30, 2022 10:14 EST
BylineNicole Di Ilio
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
