Riad Salameh, Lebanon’s central bank governor ends reign without successor

 

LEBANON – Lebanon’s veteran central bank governor, Riad Salameh, is set to end his term on Monday without a successor.  Salameh, 73, who has been in the post since 1993, was seen inside the central bank waving at some employees who had gathered to bid him farewell.

Salameh, whose term officially ends at midnight (2200 GMT) on Monday, is under investigation in Germany and various other European countries as well as in Lebanon for several suspected financial crimes.

The governor along with the ruling political class in the country have been blamed for the country’s worst economic crisis. The government has so far failed to name a successor due to the deep differences within the political class.

The World Bank has described Lebanon’s economic crisis, which started in 2019, as among the most severe in the world since the mid-1800s. Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value.

Under Lebanese law, Salameh will be replaced temporarily by the central bank’s first vice-governor, Wassim Mansouri, until a new successor is named.

Mansouri vowed in a press conference on Monday that he will not sign off on any expenditure for financing the government if it contravenes with his principles or the appropriate legal framework.

“Parliament should pass a law allowing the central bank to lend to the government, and the government should pay back the loans through a realistic plan,” he said.

Lebanese lawmakers have failed in several attempts to elect a head of state for the crisis-hit country, amid deep divisions between politicians loyal to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movements and their rivals.