Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Deputy Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Shami announced the "bankruptcy of the state and the Central Bank of Lebanon." 

According to him, the losses will be distributed among the state, the Bank of Lebanon, banks and depositors, there is no specific percentage, the country’s government is negotiating with the IMF on this issue. The head of the Lebanese Central Bank, Riad Salameh, denied this information, according to Kommersant.

“There is a fact that cannot be ignored ... we cannot open the withdrawal of money from accounts for citizens, as it would be in a normal state,” Mr. al-Shami said on the air of the Al-Jadid TV channel. He noted that the problems in the economy, due to which this happened, had been accumulating for decades.

Negotiations with the IMF, according to the deputy minister, are now focused on reforming and restructuring the banking sector, a balanced fiscal policy to service the public debt, reforming the public sector and the electric power industry, unifying exchange rates, the country’s monetary policy and fighting inflation.

Mr. Salame, in turn, said that the Central Bank of Lebanon continues to function as usual. His words are quoted by Reuters.

The Lebanese government declared the country bankrupt back in 2020. This happened after protests swept over Lebanon, and the previous government had to resign. This was also affected by the explosion in the port of Beirut.