Dr. Nasser Saidi’s comments on Lebanon’s currency crisis appeared in the Bloomberg article titled “World’s Biggest Currency Crash Prompts Lebanon to Intervene Anew“, published on 2nd Mar 2023.
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Given Lebanon’s limited international reserves, the pound stands little chance of returning to stability any time soon, according to Nasser Saidi, formerly a minister of economy and a vice governor at the central bank.
It’s “failed policy, we have seen it before,” he said. “Whatever remaining money is at the central bank is being used to subsidize public employees.”
Previous such efforts to inject dollars only briefly shored up the pound.
“This operation will fail and is becoming more expensive because the economic cost is increasing,” Saidi said. “We are taxing the cash economy that is running into a hyperinflationary spiral.”
