• Lobby

  • Lebanese Banks Capital Control

Update : BoB lowered the international limit on USD credit cards from $1000/day up to $2000/week to $250/ week up to $1000 /month.

This is BS... I'm raging right now because I received an international transfer in EUR that I can't use.

They don't have Fresh money accounts so in other words, the company that made the transfer, sent them the money and now it's more or less confiscated.
khanem wroteWhat gift cards are you buying? All I can find are 30% or more....
Offgamers and G2A runs you 10-12% respectively.
Offgamers is a pain in the ass to register with FYI, takes like 24 hours for them to verify your account and they ask you to upload photo ID.
G2A is a piece of cake, but you're limited to 5x 20 Eur cards per order

https://paxful.com/buy-bitcoin/with-any-payment-method/USD?fiat-min=200&group=gift-cards
Sorry for asking too much questions. I have to register with offgamers website buy gift cards from them send the sellers the codes then he transfer the Bitcoin to my wallet?
khanem wroteSorry for asking too much questions. I have to register with offgamers website buy gift cards from them send the sellers the codes then he transfer the Bitcoin to my wallet?
Pretty much. There's a flat fee for transfering bitcoin from paxful, it's around 4$. So I'm keeping my BTC there ubtil my CC is maxed out for the month, then I transfer them out
25 days later
Any updates on the latest limits? I'm hearing banks are constantly changing them.
Byblos bank allows the withdrawal of $200 every 8 days for a maximum of $600 per month. I believe Audi does the same thing.

Byblos allows you to spend $100 per week or $300 per month buying stuff online, which is really problematic, not sure how one could buy stuff like hosting or pay aws or azure, companies need to pay online. I couldn't even buy the annual subscription for eversql.com and I need that for work. I'm looking to work abroad, not sure how to pay relocation fees and stuff.

Byblos and Audi have the same regulations more or less.

Not sure about Blom, my colleagues can't withdraw any USD from BLOM. But I hear that other customers can withdraw $100 or $200 per week or 8 days. Not sure. Blom does not allow any online transactions outside Lebanon in USD.
NuclearVision wroteBanks are closed until the next month.
Not all. Check their facebook pages
Audi, BLOM, CL, BoB among others are opening a few branches but mainly to serve companies and corporate clients. Fransabank is closed etc..
samer wroteAny updates on the latest limits? I'm hearing banks are constantly changing them.
Would be great if you would be more specific about the bank and account currency, since some are changing the limits on a weekly basis.
Lots of spreading rumors of the haircut being near. Seeing what is happening with the world right now, I highly doubt anyone can aid us; any idea whether the circulating rumor may be accurate?

Note: Although I know some people donating to the Red Cross may be out of generosity and have genuine thoughts, others specified in the donations list tried to trim down their bank account dollars so they reach a lower haircut in case it happens. It's for a good cause I guess?
Johnaudi wroteLots of spreading rumors of the haircut being near.
what does happen in a haircut?
Haircut was already taking place since October, with the dual exchange rates and capital controls.

Our economy is around 70% in dollars and this is tragic given that it isn't productive. There are a ton of reason this being the case and of course corruption is one of them.

What is being rumored now is basically Haircut/freeze on dollar account holders and you will be provided with shares held for 6 years (maturity). Not sure about the reset of the details yet but seems the image is becoming clearer (more kicking the can).
kareem_nasser wroteHaircut was already taking place since October, with the dual exchange rates and capital controls.

Our economy is around 70% in dollars and this is tragic given that it isn't productive. There are a ton of reason this being the case and of course corruption is one of them.

What is being rumored now is basically Haircut/freeze on dollar account holders and you will be provided with shares held for 6 years (maturity). Not sure about the reset of the details yet but seems the image is becoming clearer (more kicking the can).

Yep , the Minister of Finance will propose two additioanl things which will be most probably be implemented and the cabinet will approve for execution.

1- To legalize and standarize all capital control being taken since September 2019 and increased.

2- To give the BDL Governer special authorities over the banks he doesnot used to have.

3- To freeze all dollars deposits and giving the depositors an LBP rate of 2000 instead of 1515 , in case they want to withdraw. To clear yet if LBP account depositors can withdraw USD from inside the bank at a rate of 2000 LBP too.

To sum it up , it is "theft in a legalized way". The whole system is collapsed. Commercial banks used to give high interests on USD and LBP as a motivator for people to put their money. Many people through the years deposited a lot of money. Fiscal deficit always exists, due to corruption and a system controlled by warlords mainly. The government has been always requesting money as debt from commercial banks. The commercial banks bough EuroBonds for the sake of the government .. Now BDL liquidity is low no money to payback for EuroBonds .. Commercial banks are in trouble.. A loop with one corrupted system that collapsed on each other.1
5 days later
Since Capital Controls will be official soon and they are being discussed in cabinet meetings, we need to keep an eye and share the final decision once approved here.

Let us avoid rumors circulating.
I dont think it will be official, the speaker of the cabinet said, when asked, they're leaning towards dismissing it.
9 days later
Two circulations were issued today by BDL:

In Short

Circulation 1 :

If a depositor has<= 5 million LBP the bank will buy it @ 1500 rate- official rate ( assume 5 million LBP / 1500 = 3333USD & sell back to you depending on the market rate on the day of withdraw

If a depositor has <= 3k USD they will give LBP depending on the market rate on the day if withdraw.

Circulation 2:

Establishing a unified electronic hub (between exchangers , Banks , snd BDL) for day to day market exchange rare of all foreign currencies including USD.






Are we shifting towards removing the peg on the LL completely? Because those like the first step towards that.
Any input on the above is appreciated because I do not think I fully understand the consequences of these steps.
It looks like they are trying to ease the demand for actual dollar notes by giving LL's at the market rate. In theory, it should, at least initially, ease the demand for notes, but yeah, it looks like the peg is gone for now. They may try to control where the dollar is by including the exchanges too---the government could conceivably demand the exchanges adjust their rates too, but we will have to see how the system is set up and controlled.
It seems like the first step to remove the peg, but major elements such as the gasoline price / medical imports etc, that the BDL sponsor access to dollars are still at 1500.