World Bank blames Lebanon for 'deliberate' economic crisis
The World Bank accused Lebanon’s elites of conducting “Ponzi finance” and deliberately pursuing harmful fiscal policies. Meanwhile, the Beirut port has caught fire again.
The World Bank released another report on Lebanon’s dire economic crisis today, a day before the two-year anniversary of the Beirut port explosion.
The DC-based institution titled its Lebanon Public Finance Review “Ponzi Finance?” referring to the Ponzi fraud scheme whereby new investors are paid with funds from old investors. The report began with a “message” to the Lebanese people in English, Arabic and French. In the message, the World Bank called Lebanon’s crisis “deliberate."
“A significant portion of people’s savings in the form of deposits at commercial banks have been misused and misspent over the past 30 years,” The World Bank said in the report.
The World Bank specifically blamed the government for accumulating more debt than necessary and using public services for its own benefit. Specifically, the bank said that the country’s elites used state resources for private gains by weakening public services, which allowed lucrative private sector deals such as for fuel-based generators and private trash collection. This also enabled religious groups to “tighten their grip on citizens” by providing services themselves, which strengthened Lebanon’s power-sharing system between Muslim and Christian communities, according to the report.
