Lebanon’s incoming interim central bank’s chief urges reform

Lebanon’s incoming interim central bank’s chief urges reform

BEIRUT - The Lebanese central bank's first vice governor Wassim Mansouri urged the government to undertake long-delayed reforms as he confirmed he would take over as its acting head from Tuesday, replacing longtime chief Riad Salameh.

Mansouri is due to take over as interim chief after ruling factions failed to appoint a successor to Salameh despite a four-year-long financial crisis.

Salameh, 73, leaves office after a 30-year tenure, tarnished by the meltdown that impoverished many Lebanese and paralysed a once sprawling banking system, as well as corruption charges against him at home and abroad - which he denies.

Mansouri, speaking at a news conference, said the new central bank leadership planned to impose severe restrictions on when the central bank could lend to the government and that such funding should be gradually stopped in its entirety

He said the authorities should also phase out a controversial exchange platform known as Sayrafa and lift the peg on the local currency.

"We are facing a crossroads," Mansouri said, adding he would not sign off on any government financing that he was not convinced by and which was "outside the legal framework".

The failure to appoint a new governor reflects wider dysfunction that has left Lebanon with neither a