A group of eleven banks, represented by Me. Elie Chamoun and Me. Akram Azoury, have filed a memorandum to tie-up litigation to the Ministry of Finance in order to oblige the Lebanese government to settle its dues to the Central Bank, on the basis that they are lenders of the latter. In details, the group of eleven banks are requesting the Lebanese state to settle the following:

-       $16.53 billion, representing the counter value of some LBP 249.26 trillion (at the official exchange rate of LBP 15,000 per USD) in loans to the public sector appearing on BDL’s balance sheet as of September 15, 2023. In details, the banks are requesting that said amount be settled in USD as the footnote of this item on BDL’s balance sheet states that this amount represents payments made by BDL from its foreign currency reserves on behalf of the government, in exchange for their repayment by the government at a later stage in the same foreign currency.

-       $51.30 billion, representing losses on BDL’s balance sheet as at December 31, 2020 (after its restatement by Alvarez and Marsal) which the Lebanese government must cover as per article 133 of the code of money and credit which states that the Lebanese government must settle all the losses it inflicted on the Central Bank. Always in the same context, the memorandum pointed out that article 90 of the code of money and credit prohibits the Central Bank from lending the government except for some specific cases, and that the reports published by Alvarez & Marsal and Oliver Wyman state that the current legal framework “requires” the government to recapitalize BDL.

-       Additional losses incurred on BDL’s balance sheet after December 31, 2020