Dozens of people line up every morning outside a bank in Lebanon’s capital long before the doors open, hoping to extricate whatever little cash the limits allow this week.
An employee announces only 15 people can get $100, everybody else must leave. Another morning, he says the branch has no dollars today.
“How can this be? A bank that has no money,” said Pauline Sawma, 28, bursting into laughter after she tried withdrawing a sliver of her money.
“I’ve been here since 7 a.m. Can you imagine? Standing outside and waiting, so that maybe they give me $200 and maybe not,” she said. “You can’t buy anything, you can’t travel. My microwave is broken, I can’t even get it fixed.”
Lebanon’s financial crisis has made dollars scarce, hiked prices, slashed jobs and fueled unrest. Cash-strapped banks have come under fire for imposing controls after years of funneling deposits to a dysfunctional state drowning in debt.
The controls, which kicked in four months ago without legislation, vary from one bank to another, giving some discretion to branches to decide who gets what. Banks have curbed withdrawals to as little as $100 a week, blocked transfers abroad and cut card spending online or abroad.
At least a dozen depositors told Reuters the curbs got stricter every few weeks and often did not apply to everyone in the same way. Some said their branches did not always have cash to meet even the measly limits.
Others said bankers had threatened to close accounts of customers who tried complaining. Bank workers say they, too, have faced growing pressure from irate depositors.
