Economic Committees propose plan to recover '74% of deposits'

Lebanon’s Economic Committees, a grouping of Lebanon's main businessmen and owners of major firms, on Thursday proposed an economic recovery plan that entails recovering 74% of the funds of bank depositors.

“The goal of the plan is to stimulate investment… and devise a social protection scheme, and it can recover 74% of the deposits,” Economic Committees chief Mohammed Choucair said at a press conference.

“The plan involves the recovery of the large deposits through revenues from the state’s assets,” he added.

Describing the plan as “balanced,” Choucair said it also “meets the requirements of the International Monetary Fund and holds the banks responsible while not pushing the (banking) sector to bankruptcy.”

Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Thursday that the plan had been raised with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Najib Mikati, who both largely encouraged it.

“The plan proposes the formation of a management company comprised of 10 or 12 figures who are not part of polarization and their mission would be to manage and secure the success of some state administrations, after which depositors’ funds would be paid from the achieved profits,” the daily said.

Economic sources meanwhile told the newspaper that such a plan can “renormalize the financial situation, revive the economy, support the lira and boost employees and citizens’ purchasing power.”