The National Bloc: The play of the week, starring Nabih Berri and Riad Salameh, entitled "LL8,000 to the greenback."

The series of events that occurred since the beginning of the week are a clear indication of the regime’s determination to rob the Lebanese people until the very last penny!! The protagonists of this week’s play were Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.

The regime’s play for this week is divided into three parts;

An attempt to grant banks a "general amnesty":

The Parliament Speaker hastened the voting on the "Capital Control" law to approve a "general amnesty" for banks, which failed after the local public opinion and the International Monetary Fund’s objections.

Obstruction of long-awaited forensic audit:

The conspicuous obstruction was embodied by the postponement of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the vote on extending the law on lifting banking secrecy, and it is obviously the same flimsy pretext that Riad Salameh used to evade handing over data related to public accounts.

Two days ago, he announced that he had refused to hand over the data under another flimsy pretext, which is the term of the contract with the auditing firm Alvarez & Marsal. Furthermore, Hassan Diab's government delayed contracting with the auditing company, so that the latter starts the auditing process late, while the Lebanese are bearing the brunt of losing more than 8 months.

The flagrant obstruction of the forensic audit, despite the demands of public opinion and the IMF, is clear evidence of the regime’s intentions to bury the truth underground and carry on with the same strategy until its goals are achieved.

Increasing the price of "Lollar" to 8 thousand LBP. Only depositors bear the burden of the losses

Finally, after Lebanon’s central bank Governor Riad Salameh visited Berri today, the Central bank said it had set a new rate of 8,000 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar for withdrawals from bank deposits denominated in dollars but which can now only be accessed in the local currency. At another level, the Lebanese pound continues its collapse with the symbolic threshold of 20,000 LL / USD on the black market. The pound now trades at 20 times the official peg value of 1,500 pounds to the greenback, and the currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value on the black market in the past two years.

Apparently, the ruling class continued in its approach of stealing their fellow citizens by circumventing them. Furthermore, by protecting the regime, its weapons and militias, Salameh continues to evade a plan to unify the exchange rate and implement all the required reforms.

This week's play, in its three parts, proves that the system is determined to escape punishment and preserve its gains at the expense of the entire community.

The difference this time is that their methods have become known to public opinion and the international community as well, and no one will be fooled by their tricks anymore. The play ended, and none of the required reforms, i.e. "capital control", a forensic audit, and a plan to unify the exchange rate, were adopted. Rather, it ended with an arbitrary measure raising the price of the "Lollar" that could have catastrophic repercussions in the absence of any plan or actual reforms.

The only solution is for the ruling regime to leave!