Shura Council rejects govt. request for spending from BDL foreign reserves

The State Shura Council has rejected the government’s request for borrowing from the Central Bank’s foreign currency reserves, after the bank’s vice governors demanded a legal cover for any such expenditure, media reports said on Wednesday.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has told Central Bank First Vice Governor Wassim Mansouri that if the government failed to name a new governor it would submit to parliament a draft law for legalizing the monthly use of around $200 million from the Central Bank’s obligatory reserves.

The funds would be exclusively used in the Sayrafa transactions related to the salaries of the public sector employees and the law would be valid for a period ranging from three to six months, the daily said.