...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch...'s Central Bank said on Wednesday it would stop letting depositors withdraw money from dollar accounts at a fixed rate of 3,900 pounds per dollar, a rate far worse than on the black market but the only way many Lebanese had been able to access their funds.
Lebanese banks have mostly locked depositors out of their dollar accounts and blocked transfers abroad.
"Assurance and Confidence. That's our middle name"
Under a central bank circular last year, depositors were permitted to withdraw dollars, with the funds paid in the local currency at a rate of 3,900 pounds to the dollar.
That is only around a third of the value of dollars on the black market.
The Central Bank statement did not make it clear if an alternative system would be introduced to allow access to dollars in accounts.