The Lebanese banking sector remained in a critical situation in 2024 in the absence of any resolutions to the crisis. Since 2019, the economic and financial sector crises were not tackled seriously. Moreover, political instability continued, and the year 2024 passed without electing a new president, therefore, there was no formation of a new government and no appointment of a new Governor for the Central Bank. As such, Mr. Wassim Mansouri remained an acting Governor, succeeding in keeping the exchange rate stable and increasing foreign reserve assets. In addition, Mr. Mansouri along with the commercial banks, met the requirements requested by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related to the banking system to try to evade Lebanon being listed on its Grey List. However, the state and its institutions did not take any action to meet the requirements they were responsible for, resulting in listing Lebanon on the Grey List in October 2024. To add insult to injury, the war with Israel escalated, and Israeli airstrikes covered almost all governorates but mainly concentrated on South Lebanon, Beqaa, and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. As per World Bank’s latest report, Lebanon GDP is estimated to have shrunk by 5.7% compared to an estimated growth of 0.9% before war escalation.
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