Aoun to Souhaid: You bear the heavy responsibility of restoring trust in banks

L'Orient-Le Jour

08-05-2025

Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, visited the headquarters of the Banque du Liban (BDL) Thursday morning for a meeting with the governor of the institution, Karim Souhaid, and his deputy governors, stating that Souhaid has the "heavy responsibility" of restoring confidence in the Lebanese banking system.
This visit comes as the governor had strongly criticized earlier in the week, before the parliamentary finance committee, the banking restructuring bill, approved by the government and sent to Parliament. Souhaid had denounced a project "unconstitutional and that undermines the principle of the BDL's independence."
"You bear a heavy responsibility to restore trust, both internally and internationally, in the Lebanese banking system and to protect the national currency," said Joseph Aoun to the officials of the financial institution. "Work carried out in complete transparency, free from political interference, will contribute to economic recovery," he added according to the presidency's X account.
Appointed on March 27 to head the BDL in succession to Riad Salameh, Souhaid now occupies a key position in the implementation of reforms required by the international community in a country still mired in an unprecedented economic crisis.
Souhaid told the President, according to the official state-run National News Agency (NNA), that he would "work to preserve the independence and integrity of the Central Bank of Lebanon and protect it from any interference, regardless of its source." He added, "We will act in accordance with the law to serve Lebanon's best interests."
With the support of 17 out of the 24 ministers in Nawaf Salam's government, the new governor has, from the start, had the stated backing of the head of state. The latter sees in him the most suitable candidate to accompany the government in developing viable solutions, to advance the expected legislative reforms, to restore depositors' rights, and to lay the foundations for a sustainable monetary policy. This deadline constituted the first showdown between Aoun and Salam, who indeed expressed reservations against Souhaid, whom he considered too close to banking circles to the point of making the state – and therefore the taxpayer – bear the brunt of the cost related to the return of deposits.