Banks closed 'indefinitely' in Lebanon

The Dhaka Times Desk নিরাপত্তা না থাকার কারণে লেবাননের ব্যাংকগুলো ‘অনির্দিষ্টকালের জন্য’ বন্ধ থাকবে বলে জানিয়েছে দেশটির ব্যাংক এসোসিয়েশন।

Several banks in Lebanon were besieged last week by some customers trying to withdraw their stuck savings. In that context, the Bank Association of Lebanon has taken this decision.

Bank associations say their staff are at risk. No steps have been taken by the government to mitigate this risk. Banks were supposed to reopen from Thursday after being closed for 3 days last week.

Last week a woman walked into a bank armed with a toy pistol and took the stand. Going there, he wants to withdraw his savings from the bank. Because one of his family members was in the hospital and he could not even pay the hospital bills.

This type of incident has happened more than once to withdraw savings. Last Friday, 5 such incidents happened in one day. Lebanon is currently going through a severe financial crisis. 80 percent of the country's population is struggling to afford food and medicine.

There people are taking positions inside banks to get back their savings, common people are also supporting it. Common people are believed to be doing these things out of sheer frustration and anger.

These people have never committed a crime before and are unable to pay bills due to their inability to withdraw money from the bank. Since 2019, the banks have also fixed the maximum limit for withdrawing dollars. Because since then, the Lebanese currency, the pound, has started to lose a lot of value. The prices of goods have increased tremendously.

In August last year, a man armed with a weapon entered a bank and demanded his savings. At one point the bank authorities were forced to pay his money. He then came out with £35,000 of his savings. That incident attracted much attention as well as public support. No case was filed against him. -BBC.

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