The Central Bank (BDL) issued on July 1st, 2025 basic circular 169 (Decision 13729) regarding the withdrawals from USD deposits accumulated in banks in Lebanon before November 17th, 2019 (i.e. USD deposits that were present before the crisis and known as lollars). This decision states that banks are requested to stop withdrawing or transferring any amount from lollars accounts accumulated in the bank or was transferred after November 17th, 2019 that exceeds the limits set by Central Bank’s circulars without getting BDL’s prior written approval.
The circular explains the reasons behind this decision. First, the Central bank admits that depositors have the right to withdraw their deposits. However, in a banking crisis similar to what Lebanese banking sector is facing, some of the depositors who had the chance to raise lawsuits against Lebanese banks abroad, and especially in the United Kingdom, were able to get court decisions to transfer their deposits abroad and Lebanese banks were obliged to execute these decisions. As such, inequality between depositors arose. The circular declares also that the BDL’s rule is to deal with all depositors equally and any future resolve plan should reserve depositors’ rights without discrimination between them. It is to be noted that this circular also helps banks who are facing depositors’ lawsuits, but also preserves the rights of millions of depositors.
An article published in today’s edition of Annahar newspaper (July 2nd, 2025) sheds light on the advantages of the newly issued circular. It mentions that the banks were obliged to execute international courts’ decisions to transfer deposits of some depositors totaling tens of millions of dollars while the majority of depositors are not able to transfer or withdraw a good part of their deposits. They are only withdrawing the limits specified by BDL. Ex-Minister of Labor Mr. Camille Bou Sleiman told Annahar that there are several criteria that should be present for depositors to be able to get a court decision in United Kingdom that obliges banks to transfer abroad depositors’ money. First, the depositor should have residency in the country where the lawsuit was raised upon opening the bank account. Second, the account should be a personal saving account and not an account used for trading purposes. Third, the bank should be operating in the country where the lawsuit was raised. Finally, Mr. Bou Sleiman praised Central Bank’s Governor’s courage to issue such a circular and passing all the obstacles to bring the equality between the depositors.
In conclusion, if this circular was issued at the beginning of the crisis, or if the officials at that time did their job in issuing a capital control law, billions of dollars that were transferred in the first couple of weeks of the crisis would have remained in foreign reserves at the Central Bank.