{"id":60377,"date":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director"},"modified":"2023-08-30T04:26:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T04:26:04","slug":"6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/","title":{"rendered":"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To  Ex Ministry of Finance Director"},"content":{"rendered":"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/l\/60302\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund<\/a> has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis. <br \/>  <br \/>    <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bankers \u2018smuggled\u2019 $6bn out of Lebanon, says ex-finance chief <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/U9xmmj1z1o\">https:\/\/t.co\/U9xmmj1z1o<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Middle East &#038; Africa (@FTMidEastAfrica) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FTMidEastAfrica\/status\/1282525612972871681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 13, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>  <br \/>  <br \/>  Bifani claimed that bankers have \u201csmuggled\u201d up to <B>$6 billion<\/b> out of Lebanon since October, circumventing controls introduced to stem capital flight as the country plunged into its worst financial crisis in 30 years. He reached the estimate based on his interpretation of the figures and consultation with Lebanon\u2019s banking control authority, he said.<br \/>  <br \/>  This comes after Lebanon&#8217;s financial meltdown has thrown its people into a frantic search for dollars as the local currency\u2019s value evaporates, and after tens of thousands have fallen into poverty, wages are worth only a fraction of what they once were, and prices are skyrocketing. <br \/>  <br \/>  Bifani also told the Financial Times that the political and banking elite were trying to \u201ccontinue to benefit from the system without taking any loss\u201d, while ordinary Lebanese \u201cpay a terrible price\u201d.<br \/>  <br \/>  Is this more proof that the Lebanese system will never be reformed?<br \/>  <br \/>  <b><i>Editorial Purpose: <\/b>We are sharing this piece of content in the hopes that you will scrutinize every institution&#8217;s projects and spending.<\/i><br \/>  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":435279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","_preview_accessed":0,"_lftp_listicle_injection":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-60377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"authorship":[110],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.5 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beirut.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-30T04:26:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/60377-1-1024x536.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-30T04:26:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/60377-1-scaled.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/\",\"name\":\"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/60377-1-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-30T04:26:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/60377-1-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/60377-1-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1340},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/60377\\\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/\",\"name\":\"Beirut.com\",\"description\":\"Beirut.com is your insider guide to Lebanon, with the best in food, culture, neighborhoods, and everything new. Discover where to go and fall in love with our country.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beirut.com, SA\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1044,\"caption\":\"Beirut.com, SA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/beirutcityguide\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/beirutcityguide\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director","description":"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director","og_description":"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/","og_site_name":"Beirut.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide","article_published_time":"2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-30T04:26:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":536,"url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/60377-1-1024x536.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@beirutcityguide","twitter_site":"@beirutcityguide","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director","datePublished":"2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-30T04:26:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/"},"wordCount":259,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/60377-1-scaled.png","articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/","name":"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/60377-1-scaled.png","datePublished":"2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-30T04:26:04+00:00","description":"In an interview with the international newspaper Financial Times, the ex Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, who recently resigned amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund has accused what he called the \u2018dirty money elite\u2019 of protecting vested interests as the economy collapses and allowed the population to take the brunt of the economic crisis.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/60377-1-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/60377-1-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/60377\/6-billion-smuggled-outside-of-lebanon-according-to-ex-ministry-of-finance-director\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"$6 Billion Smuggled Outside Of Lebanon, According To Ex Ministry of Finance Director"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/","name":"Beirut.com","description":"Beirut.com is your insider guide to Lebanon, with the best in food, culture, neighborhoods, and everything new. Discover where to go and fall in love with our country.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#organization","name":"Beirut.com, SA","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1044,"caption":"Beirut.com, SA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide","https:\/\/x.com\/beirutcityguide"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":682862,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60377\/revisions\/682862"}],"wp:authorship":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60377"},{"taxonomy":"media-embed-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-embed-type?post=60377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}