Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh issued the following statement:
"The Swiss newspaper "Le Temps" published a fraudulent article accusing the Central Bank and its Governor of interfering and removing 14 pages from the International Monetary Fund's report.
The entire content of this article is completely false, and the accusations against the Governor of the Central Bank are far from the truth. In addition, the article claimed that the alleged removal of 14 pages from the report negatively effected the Governor himself, and that it is part of the ongoing aggressive campaign against him.
The International Monetary Fund follows a serious and transparent method in its work, and those who are familiar with its work will not believe such lies and claims. The International Monetary Fund has a large team composed of several people who are tasked with preparing such reports; they discuss multiple topics, according to which the reports and the results of discussions are drawn up with all the concerned parties in the Lebanese state, especially the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Central Council of the Central Bank. Afterwards, the International Monetary Fund's team heads to Washington in the United States, where the final report is written and sent to the Lebanese state, not just to the Central Bank. The Lebanese state then presents its comments, which could be taken into consideration. This report is then discussed and approved by the International Monetary Fund's Board of Directors, which is composed of executive directors representing all countries of the world.
It is clear that the article published by "Le Temps" newspaper lacks seriousness, as the claim of removing 14 pages from the report of a global and respected institution such as the International Monetary Fund, is only attributed to the Governor of the Central Bank.
The timing of this article is also suspicious, as it was issued at the beginning of Lebanon's serious negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, which is worrying because there are parties whose goal is to thwart all efforts to recover Lebanon.
It is worth noting that it is not the first time that the Governor of the Central Bank has been subjected to such campaigns by "Le Temps" newspaper, which confirms the presence of some biased people behind these suspicious and false articles.
It is strange that all these aggressive campaigns against the Governor of the Central Bank began in April 2020 after Lebanon announced its default on the Eurobond payment in March 2020."
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