Report: BDL stops buying dollars as Salameh seeks to go to UAE

Report: BDL stops buying dollars as Salameh seeks to go to UAE

Outgoing Central Bank chief Riad Salameh and the political forces and money changers he cooperates with are seeking monetary and financial instability in the Lebanese market, a media report said on Tuesday.

“The Central Bank on Friday stopped purchasing dollars from the market until further notice,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

“Salameh is going home and is seeking to show that there will be chaos when he leaves,” the daily added.

Reminding of reports that Salameh wants to live in the UAE after his retirement, al-Akhbar said he has sought to “pacify the UAE authorities, relying on Lebanese and Emirati businessmen.”

“One of the most prominent Emirati investors in Lebanon has managed to recover a large part of his trapped deposit whose original value exceeded $100 million,” the daily added.