The anger towards Lebanon’s banking and financial system - once upheld as the Switzerland of the Middle East - has become palpable and with people unable to access money
, a Lebanese think tank referred to as "a regulated Ponzi scheme which has benefited the banking sector and left the rest of the Lebanese to foot the bill."
For Safieddine, the foundation of this issue ultimately goes back to the formal establishment of Lebanon’s banking lobby - the Association of Banks - in 1959 and the country’s neo-liberal economic orientation. In this Dec. 28, 2019 file photo, anti-government protesters occupy the Hamra branch of BLC Bank, in Beirut, Lebanon. For years, many Lebanese have lived beyond their means, supporting their out-sized spending with loans and remittances from diaspora relatives.
“There are definite attempts by political parties to vindicate themselves or to at least remove a share of the responsibility,” el-Kak toldWhile responsibility for the architecture of Lebanon’s post-Civil War financial order rests in large part with the late Rafiq Hariri and his cadre, for el-Kak, no party can claim to have been fundamentally opposed to the system that was created.
“While the two camps are not as clearly delineated today as they were after the 2005 asssassination of [Rafiq] Hariri, in general… March 14th forces are much more aligned with the banking oligarchy as well as Western and Gulf capital and thereby much more sympathetic to banking interests.
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