Lebanese president snubs budget, delays new exchange rate

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon can’t put its new official exchange rate into effect after its outgoing president refused to sign off on the 2022 state budget. Government officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended Oct. 31, did not agree with the state budget and believed that it had unconstitutional elements. The Finance Ministry in late September announced that Lebanon would change its pegged exchange rate to the dollar from 1,500 pounds to 15,000 starting November, which they called a “necessary corrective action.” Advisors say that Aoun did not reject the budget, but left it unanswered so it would pass automatically in a month under Lebanese law.