The Ugly Truth: Where Did Lebanon's Central Bank Spend the Dollars?

In the previous report, we informed you that there were $85 billion of deposits placed in reserves at the Central Bank of Lebanon during the years before the crisis. Imagine that only $10 billion remain from that amount.

So, how were the deposits spent? According to the latest version of the government's financial recovery plan:

- $35 billion were spent on supporting the exchange rate at 1,500 LBP.
- $20 billion were lost by the Central Bank of Lebanon on high interest rates paid on dollar deposits and financial engineering.
- $10 billion were used by the central bank to finance the state in dollars and for purchasing fuel.
- $5 billion were spent on Eurobonds owed by the Central Bank of Lebanon to the state.
- $5 billion were spent on subsidized loans for housing, technology, and other sectors.

This is how the funds were spent before the collapse. The bigger problem is that after the crisis began, an additional $15 billion were spent on supporting essential goods like medicine, fuel, wheat, and food items. A significant portion of these funds was smuggled abroad or used for storage and monopolies.

Is there any hope of recovering the deposits? How does the government plan to retrieve them? To be continued...