The National Bloc: BDL circulars are delaying the inevitable collapse… The only solution is a rescue government that implements wide-ranging reforms

Lebanese pound snaps record losing-streak, hits record low against the U.S. dollar amid a deepening financial crisis.

The government could have avoided this scenario only if the required reforms were implemented to restructure the debt and the country's hard-hit banking sector, while taking vital decisions to unify the exchange rate and foster public confidence in the administrative judiciary by strengthening its independence, impartiality, oversight and its institutional capacity.

Regardless of the fact that Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government has waited for the Cabinet's last official meeting before it becomes a caretaker government to present a financial rescue plan in an attempt to deceive the people and the international community, while throughout his tenure he has been preoccupied with protecting cartels, mafias and bank owners.

At a time when the health sector is gasping out its last breath, and all syndicates are ringing alarm bells about the imminent hospitals crumble, the government is turning a deaf ear. Rather, the untouchable Nabih Berry who has been the country’s parliamentary speaker for 30 years is busy seeking to renew his mandate for a seventh consecutive term. He has been circumventing and procrastinating in calling for a parliamentary session while the country is racing against a major collapse, and parliamentary blocs claiming reform have been immersed in quotas, despotism and corruption for years.

Thus, one part of the solution is clear today, and anything else is a waste of time. The election of the president, vice president of Parliament and committees for May 31 to launch parliamentary consultations to form a rescue government - outside the logic of quotas – to implement the International Monetary Fund’s financial reform demands and sets an integrated plan to advance the economy.

As for the circulars issued by the Governor of Central Bank Riad Salameh especially the last one, they totally disrespect the minds and pains of the Lebanese people, and will not improve the reality but instead will postpone the explosion for several days at best if the regime continues to protect its narrow interests.