PHOTO
BEIRUT: The Central Bank prohibited all commercial banks in Lebanon to buy fresh dollars from the black market, or better known as the parallel market, urging the lenders to carry out their transactions on BDLs Sayrafa platform.
The new instructions were based on BDLs Circular 159, which are aimed at streamlining the buying and selling of US dollars through the Sayrafa platform.
The circular forbids banks from buying foreign currency from the parallel market.
But it allows banks to purchase foreign currency at the market rate for clients who transfer money from abroad for medium and long-term investments, to improve liquidity ratios, or to settle external obligations, on the condition that banks register the operation on BDLs Syarafa electronic platform.
It also prohibited banks from buying or selling directly or indirectly checks in foreign currency for their own account.
Furthermore, the circular prohibits banks from calculating any incoming transfers from abroad, or any foreign currency that they receive in cash from their clients or to their benefit, at more than their real value.
The decision aims to stop what is known as the multiplier effect that some banks have implemented on foreign currency deposits in fresh money.
It exempted from this decision the fresh money deposits in foreign currency that clients use to settle their debts in full, on the condition that banks inform the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL) of this settlement.
BDL also asked banks to report to the BCCL by Sept. 15, 2021 all the transactions related to the above operations that they may have conducted between the start of 2019 and the date of the issuance of this circular.
There were several reports that some of the banks in Lebanon have been buying dollars directly from the black market, which apparently caused the Lebanese pound to depreciate in value in a dramatic way.
A general manager of a medium-size bank admitted that his bank and many other lenders have been buying dollars from the parallel market instead of the Sayrafa.
BDL is obliging all banks to buy dollars from its platform and this platform offers to buy dollars at rates lower than the parallel market. This decision is unfair but we are obliged to abide by it, the banker argued.
He stressed that this measure will have no impact on the exchange rate of the dollar and pound in the black market, stressing that only the restoration of confidence can lower the dollar rates against the national currency.
One exchange dealer admitted that banks are the biggest buyers of fresh dollar bank notes in recent weeks.
Some banks come to us with a big demand to buy dollars and sometimes the value of these transactions exceeds hundreds and thousands of dollars. But recently, many dealers in the black market could not meet the demands of some of the banks due to a shortage in bank notes, the dealer told The Daily Star.
However, other bankers assured that they only buy dollars from BDLs platform which registers on a daily basis all the transactions in its system.
Copyright 2021, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
