Bassil slams 'farce' as capital control debate protracts

"What happened today is a farce," Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil said Tuesday about a joint parliamentary session that discussed a capital control law.

"The session showed that there is no will to pass the law," Bassil went on to say.

He added that some banks are making "selective" transfers overseas because the capital control law hasn't been approved yet.

"There is a deliberate will not to the adopt the law, for the interest of the banks, the Central Bank and some influential people," Bassil decried.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab disagreed with Bassil, saying that the session was productive.

"The discussion was long and serious," Bou Saab said. "We completed six clauses of the law."

The capital control talks will resume next week, he added.

The adoption of a capital control law is one of the reforms requested by the International Monetary Fund to financially help crisis-hit Lebanon, but some MPs consider it unfair to the depositors.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said that it is possible to make drastic amendments to the law and that his bloc will defend the depositors' rights.

Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan also said that his bloc will defend the depositors' right, as he voiced support for the capital control law.

Since October 2019, banks have been imposing informal capital controls, barring depositors from reaching into their dollar accounts, as well as stopping transfers, amid a severe financial crisis.