The President of “The Independence Movement”, MP Michel Moawad confirmed that the government made wrong decisions that endanger our people and country’s existence; decisions like injecting the US Dollars into the market, while our reserves are not sufficient to provide the minimum of our needs. MP Moawad said “I believe that we are obliged to find a national plan because we do not have the luxury of time. In fact, we are running out of time.” He added: “It is true that the government’s plan is discussing reform measures, however after 4 months of obtaining the confidence, this government did not implement any step of the reform process. Some issues do not need time to be done but only a strict decision. Moreover, the government did not set a serious calendar to implement the reform process; i.e. nothing has changed.”
MP Moawad noted that the country is collapsing while different political parties are disclaiming their responsibilities. He assured: “Lebanon should rebuild good relations with all countries, not only to get the 21 billion dollars but also to gain confidence, to strengthen its economy and attract the foreign investments to the country. Therefore, all parties as well as Hezbollah, are asked not to interfere in the regional conflicts.”
MP Moawad held a press conference in the Parliament to discuss the financial reform plan of the government as well as financial and economic issues. He said: “Today, I decided to talk about the financial plan of the government for three reasons:
The first one is the unacceptable situation that we are going through. People are hungry and need to know the truth.
The second one is seeing the country collapsing while political parties are disclaiming their responsibilities. In fact, I did not give confidence to this government and I refused to give confidence to the “replacement” opposition because they are all responsible of this current situation.
The third one is because I consider this financial plan very dangerous and I insist that we are all obliged to put a national plan in which we include the constitutional institutions, the economic and financial sectors and the civil community; a plan that can be executed to save Lebanon from a complete failure that will affect us and may affect our children and our grand children. In fact, we do not have the luxury of time.”
He added: “the government is making wrong decisions that will endanger our people and country’s existence. For example, the decision of injecting US Dollars into the market is a mistake. We should maintain and protect the LBP exchange rate, here allow me to ask the Lebanese citizens: “Is it reasonable to inject US dollars into the market amidst this current situation where the Lebanese market is thirsty for dollars and the Syrian market is close to us and is deprived? Is it reasonable to use the rest of the Lebanese reserves that are not sufficient to provide our needs of bread, medicines and fuel?! Is it necessary to say once again that injecting dollars without implementing the necessary reforms to protect the exchange rate is one of the fundamental reasons that led us to this current situation?! (And they keep on criticizing the previous policies?!) Is it necessary to remind you that we had to default on Eurobonds, i.e we missed the payment of our bonds, with all the negative consequences of this decision, because we considered that we do not have sufficient reserves?! The exchange rate will be protected and maintained by implementing reforms and not by injecting the dollars of the depositors in the market.”
MP Moawad added: “First, we want to know if this plan was made to negotiate the IMF or to implement reforms without the intervention of the IMF. Why this plan was made? For me, it really matters. Second, how this plan was made and how the negotiations has started without including the Central Bank of Lebanon, the Association of Banks, the economic organizations , the social& economic council, the association of Lebanese industrialists, the workers, the farmers, the economic sectors, the civil community and the parliament! Well, we will not allow them to impose any plan. We are living in a democratic parliamentary regime and we want to play our role seriously and responsibly. Where did this plan lead us? It led us to negotiate the international institutions without having unified numbers. It led us to negotiate the IMF without obtaining the approval and the support of the parliament.”
MP Moawad declared that it is not acceptable to negotiate the IMF amid a disagreement concerning the financial loss figures where estimations vary from 80 thousand billion LBP to 241 thousand billion LBP. He added: “To be clear, the 241 thousand billion LBP is the figure estimated by the government and it contains three essential mistakes: first, this figure has no reference& no auditing document in a state that could not estimate the real number of its employees till now. The government asked for an audit in the central bank of Lebanon, which is a good decision. However, it did not ask for an audit in the Ministry of Finance, the Electricity of Lebanon, the Port of Beirut, the Ministry of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Health, the National Social Security Fund, the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Council for South Lebanon, the Central Fund for the Displaced and others. Second, an exaggeration was made on the losses figures. For example, we should mention the huge losses in the banks due to the bad situation of the private sector. The government estimated that the loss is 140 thousand billion LBP without referring to anyone. After having a simple audit, the real loss is 14 thousand and 162 billion LBP only. Third, and the most important, the government used an approach that can cause the collapse of the biggest economic systems like the German or the American economic system, by calculating the gross domestic income or by considering every debt as a loss, as if the state is not responsible of the losses and that it is impossible to compensate it. They consider that it is necessary to adjust the debts to zero and to consider all the payments in 2030, 2035 and 2044 as due on today and to burden the Lebanese people the losses: depositors, private sector and banks. But they forgot that if we implement reforms and improve the classification of Lebanon starting today to the 10 coming years, the situation will change and the losses will disappear. This means that the government is not planning to implement the necessary reforms and wants to burden the citizens the cost of the corruption and the previous political performance.”
MP Moawad stated: “To be honest with the Lebanese people, when we asked the government about the reason to choose this approach, which is the approach of the country’s failure, we had three answers:
-The first answer was: this is the IMF’s request. Yes, because IMF is a bank and wants to obtain warranties previously like any other bank instead of listening to promises like reforms in the electricity sector and in controlling the illegal borders.”
He added: “We are really confused, when we first talked about the necessity of the IMF, they refused the idea. Now, we should say that we are protecting our people during the negotiations. We should not give up in advance, without starting from counting the minimum rate of losses that our people and our economy cannot bear. They are competing with the IMF in its conditions. For example, there are lower figures approved by the IMF.
-The second answer was: the government’s responsibility is to protect the Lebanese people and not the depositors. As if the depositors are not citizens from the Lebanese people. I don’t know why I can feel that Trotsky or Maduro are incarnated in Lebanon. In fact, in case Lebanon loses its capacity to gain the confidence, to attract the investments and to go along the development path, then the possibility to save the country will be impossible. Meanwhile, people will suffer from poverty, hunger and misery… this is similar to the situation in Venezuela and other countries.
-The third answer was: the state should not take the responsibility because the state is not for the government, it is for the people. Well, if in theory this is true but practically it is not. People are aware that the state’s capabilities are in the service of the political forces and their corruption. It was never in the service of the people. Today, they are trying to burden the Lebanese people the cost of their bad political practices and their corruption.”
MP Moawad stated “In the parliament, in the sub-committee of the Finance& Budget Parliamentary Commission, we have opposed the government’s approach and figures. We worked hard, seriously and strictly to unify the figures in order to strengthen Lebanon’s position in the negotiations with the IMF. I can say that we are getting close to have unified losses figures and approaches. MP Ibrahim Kanaan will announce the commission report, but allow me to say that unifying the figures is very important, but is it enough to put the train on the right track? Of course not. We should implement a fair distribution of losses between the private sector& public sector in all regions and different social classes. It is not all about calculating the losses and restructuring the debts but it is about the consequences. We have to find the causes and solve them; otherwise we will continue digging and will end by sinking all together. The main problem in the government’s plan is that it focuses on the results and not on the causes.”
He explained that there are two types of causes: the first is related to strategic choices and the second is related to governance and reforms. He said: “concerning the strategic choices, I repeat what I said in the confidence session: there is a contradiction between our regional political position, our financial & economic structure and the government’s plan. The government cannot make a rescue plan based on a support of 21 billion USD from the United States and the Arab countries through the IMF or the CEDRE (cedar) funds and be in opposition with the USA or the Arab countries. Therefore, most of Arab countries refused to meet PM Hassan Diab. That’s why, I can say that Lebanon should not only obtain the 21 billion, but also should regain the confidence, build its economy and attract the investments. In fact, Lebanon should rebuild good relations with all countries, including all parties, as well as Hezbollah, while remaining away from the region’s conflicts. However, we refuse the position of some parties who insist on confronting the world, as we heard yesterday. If so, at least, these parties should provide real financial& economic substitutes and not slogans and promises that will lead us to poverty and hunger. Moreover, regarding the strategic choices, we noticed a contradiction between the necessity of being independent, which is very important, and fighting it by attacking the depositors and talking about a haircut on 2% of the important resident& emigrant depositors who are the pillar of our economy. Furthermore, issuing penal laws will destroy the essential legal rules, the basis of the free economy and the confidence of the investors that constitute the main factor to be independent. The judicial authorities are the guarantee for every investment because investors look for the legal protection for their investments. I also warn people from the intervention of politics in the judicial sector for financial and political reasons to attack institutions in the private sector and the banking sector, which is against the constitution, the laws and the authorities for the service of clear foreign agendas.”
MP Moawad stated that the judicial authorities work independently to arrest the corrupters. He said “I ask the Minister of Justice to deal in a strict way with this issue. In fact, the judicial system is fundamental to maintain the image and the reputation of Lebanon, in order to attract investments and become an independent country.”
Concerning the governance and the reforms, MP Moawad explained: “we, the Lebanese people& the international community have already memorized the needed reforms: controlling the illegal borders, the telecommunications, the port, the seaside properties, the retirement system, the social security, decentralization & the e-government, the control authorities& others…”

MP Moawad noted that despite the fact that the government’s plan includes the reforms process, but from four months till now, it did not implement any reform step. Some issues need the decision and not time to be done. He added that the plan does not include any serious calendar to implement these reforms, i.e. nothing has changed.
At the end, MP Moawad declared “The financial restructuring plan with unified figures and a fair distribution of losses, will definitely cause the destruction of the Lebanese private sector that included more than one million Lebanese persons, if we do not solve and treat the causes that led to this situation, like the wrong strategic choices& the absence of any reform. The private sector is the pillar of our economy and is behind its success, in Lebanon and around the world. We cannot accept this situation and we will never give up on resisting to any trial leading us to the financial, economic& social collapse. We will be fighting from our political and parliamentary position to save the country, whatever it takes.