Banque du Liban issues a statement regarding Circulars 158 and 166

Banque du Liban issued a statement regarding the two basic Circulars No. 158 and No. 166.

The statement said: "Whereas the banking crisis that erupted in Lebanon in October 2019 led to the imposition of restrictions on bank deposits, preventing depositors, both residents and non-residents, from freely disposing of their funds, especially those deposited in foreign currencies, and pending an integrated plan to restore financial stability, the necessary laws to reform and regulate banks, financial regularity and recovery of deposits, and in response to the urgent and humanitarian need of hundreds of thousands of depositors whose funds have been frozen in the financial and banking system for several years, and in order to contribute to enhancing social stability and economic growth, and within its exclusive powers under the Code of Money and Credit, and using the only legal tool currently available to it, which is issuing circulars, and since the economy and depositors are in dire need of obtaining deposit liquidity, Basic Decision No. 13611 dated 2/2/2024 (Circular 166) and Basic Decision No. 13335 dated 8/6/2021 (Circular 158) were issued. These two circulars provide cash dollars exceeding two billion five hundred million US dollars annually. These payments are financed from the mandatory placements belonging to commercial banks deposited with Banque du Liban, which are legally and factually considered funds belonging to the depositors themselves."

It pointed out that Circulars 158 and 166 allowed hundreds of thousands of depositors to recover part or all of their deposits in foreign currency.

It revealed that "the total number of depositors who benefited from the two basic Circulars No. 158 and 166 reached a total of 578,770 depositors by the end of March 2026, including 266,166 depositors who recovered their entire deposits in the sub-special account, i.e., 46% of the total number of depositors benefiting from these two circulars, noting that the monthly payments for Circulars 158 and 166 decreased from $242.2 million in February 2026 to $240.4 million US dollars in March 2026, a decrease of $1.8 million US dollars, i.e., 0.73%. The banks' share of the March 2026 payment is about $28.36 million US dollars, i.e., 11.80% of the total of this payment, meaning that Banque du Liban pays 88.2% of the amounts paid for these two circulars."

It said: "On the other hand, the total number of applications from depositors who applied to benefit from the two basic Circulars No. 158 and 166 until the date of submitting this statement reached 610,624 applications."

It added: "Finally, both Banque du Liban and commercial banks covered payments to depositors, which amounted to $6.109 billion US dollars by the end of March 2026, of which Banque du Liban's share was $4.183 billion US dollars, i.e., 68.46% of the total payments for these two circulars, and the banks' share was $1.926 billion US dollars, i.e., 31.54% of the total of those payments. It is worth noting that all benefiting depositors since the beginning of Circular 158, i.e., since July 1, 2021, whose deposits were equal to or less than $40,200 US dollars, have recovered their entire savings by the end of April 2026."

Banque du Liban affirmed its diligent work to follow up on paying the dues within the circulars due to the importance of this in supporting depositors and their financial capacity in particular and the local economy in general, given the legal and social responsibility towards depositors, especially in these difficult circumstances.