Nobody running Lebanon: Central bank chief Riad Salameh

Nobody running Lebanon: Central bank chief Riad Salameh

Lebanon’s central bank governor said nobody was running the country as he defended his decision to halt fuel subsidies that have drained currency reserves, saying the government could resolve the problem quickly by passing necessary legislation.

In an interview broadcast on Saturday, governor Riad Salameh pressed back against government accusations that he had acted alone in declaring an end to the subsidies on Wednesday, saying everyone knew the decision was coming.

Part of Lebanon’s wider financial meltdown, the steadily worsening fuel crisis has hit a crunch point, with hospitals, bakeries and many businesses scaling back operations or shutting down completely as fuel runs dry.

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Deadly violence has flared in fuel lines, protesters have blocked roads, and fuel tankers have been hijacked this week.

The central bank’s move to end subsidies, which will mean sharp price increases, is the latest turn in the financial crisis that has sunk the Lebanese pound by 90 percent in less than two years and pushed more than half the population into poverty.

Salameh said Lebanon could recover but could not say how long that would take. “So far you have nobody running the country,” he told Radio