Last January Reuters reported that Lebanon was in the grip of a deep economic crisis which is the result of successive governments piling up debt after the 1975-1990 civil war with little to show for their spending spree. Thus banks in Lebanon which are essential to a service-oriented economy became paralyzed. Savers have been locked out of dollar accounts or told that the funds they can access are now worth a fraction of what they were. The currency has collapsed plunging a large portion of the population into poverty.[1]
In an update as recent as this month Euronews reported that:
“Lebanon is experiencing what the World Bank has described as one of the world’s worst economic crises with nearly three-quarters of the country’s population having been pushed into absolute poverty. The country’s currency the Lebanese lira has lost 95% of its value since 2019.
The economic crisis has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 ammonium nitrate explosion at Beirut’s port which was considered one of the worst non-nuclear blasts in history.”[2]
And now the Lebanese are so desperate that they are ending up “robbing” their own banks in order to get their own money and savings! At least 7 banks robbed today in #Lebanonby savers claiming their own money blocked since the start of the crisis in 2019. Protesters gather to support the robbers. All banks in the country will be closed for three days for security
pic.twitter.com/LLmdcwWexl— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) September 17 2022
The media is calling these people “robbers”. Well they are not if they are being made to forcibly withdraw their own money!
Consequently after this string of raids by people taking out their savings Lebanon decided to shut banks[3] closing all banks for three days. The banks are all insolvent and unable to meet depositor withdrawals demands.
“While the world of high and not so high finance is preoccupied with the volatility of cryptocurrencies and recent painful losses for overlevered players who much to the surprise of ordinary equity investors were not bailed out by a generous Fed (which however only rescues stock markets not cryptos) things in China are once again heating up with its $54 trillion financial system or more than double the size of assets across US commercial banks.”
Back in July an angry crowd of protestors stormed the Zhengzhou branch of the Bank of China after their deposits were frozen resulting in their being unable to withdraw their money.”[4]
Citizens storm the Bank of China in Zhengzhou over bank account freezes. Banks froze millions of dollars in deposits last April, simply explaining to savers that they need to upgrade their internal systems. Since then, customers have not received any kind of communication. pic.twitter.com/XS9zuXRuEK
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) July 10, 2022
According to Chinese media authorities are investigating the three banks and the frozen deposits at several local banks could be worth up to $1.5 billion. This is huge. Don’t know how this will end. Henan bank is NOT the only one that is having problems with liquidity. All four Chinese banks are having the same issue. Some depositors found they can save and can NOT withdraw money with their bank cards.
This is huge. Don't know how this will end. Henan bank is NOT the only one that is having problems with liquidity. All four Chinese banks are having the same issue. Some depositors found they can save and can NOT withdraw money with their bank cards. #bankrun #China #CCP pic.twitter.com/5WYYgpmIWP
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) July 10, 2022
Later Henan’s banking regulators issued a brief notice on their website informing the public that authorities are working quickly to check customer funds in four of the banks and develop a strategy to address the issue in order to protect the general public’s rights and interests.
[1]https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/lebanons-financial-crisis-how-it-happened-2022-01-23/
[2]https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/16/lebanon-hit-by-string-of-bank-robberies-as-citizens-try-to-claim-own-savings
[3]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62931729
[4]https://greatgameindia.com/bank-china-frozen-deposits/