Lebanon banking paralysis deepens economic collapse
Recent Developments
012025-04-24: Parliament passed amendments to the banking secrecy law, expanding access for the Central Bank, Banking Control Commission, and auditors.
022025-12-19: Reuters reported a draft deposit-recovery law proposing phased repayments for small depositors and long-term securities for larger claims.
032026-08-20: Reuters reported the IMF welcomed Lebanon’s bank-law changes as a 'major step' but said broader restructuring is still needed.
Interventions
- IMF-backed banking-sector reform package, including bank resolution and deposit-recovery legislation.
- Implementation of the amended banking secrecy framework to support audits and restructuring.
What Works
- Bank-sector restructuring paired with credible deposit-resolution rules can restore intermediation only if losses are transparently allocated and enforced.
- Removing banking secrecy barriers for regulators and auditors improves the ability to verify balance sheets and design a workable recovery plan.
How to Help
- Support humanitarian and economic-recovery organizations operating in Lebanon.
- Back policy advocacy for transparent banking reform, deposit protection, and IMF-aligned restructuring.
- Donate to organizations assisting households harmed by frozen deposits and cash shortages.
Make an Impact
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Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(13)
UNICEF addresses drought-driven school disruption by improving water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools, finalizing school WASH standards and guidelines, and helping design and install climate-resilient water supply systems so schools can keep operating safely during drought conditions.
Project HOPE’s strategy is to strengthen local health systems rather than deliver short-term aid alone. Across its programs, it works through training, mentorship, clinical capacity-building, and direct service delivery so that hospitals, clinics, and community health workers can continue providing care after an external response ends. This is visible in its NCD work in China, where it combines clinical training, case management, screening, counseling, and education to improve how local systems manage chronic disease, and in Ethiopia, where it supports hospital mentorship and comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care centers.[5][8] A second part of its approach is rapid, mobile, and community-based response in crises. In emergencies and conflict settings, Project HOPE uses mobile health and nutrition teams, mobile clinics, and community partnerships to reach displaced or underserved people with primary care, maternal services, nutrition support, and outbreak prevention.[6][8] That model is designed to keep services accessible when fixed facilities are damaged, overloaded, or hard to reach. Project HOPE also appears to integrate disease-specific programs into broader public health delivery rather than treating each condition in isolation. Its publicly described primary areas include disasters and health crises, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, maternal, neonatal, and child health, and health policy, which suggests a systems-oriented portfolio that combines prevention, treatment, and policy support across settings.[2][3]
France has pushed Lebanese leaders to implement financial reforms needed to unlock international support and stabilize the banking sector. Its approach is diplomatic pressure and coordination around restructuring, deposit losses, and conditions for aid rather than direct financial assistance.
Anera tackles Gaza’s water crisis by building and repairing water infrastructure, including reservoirs, networks, wells, pumping stations, and reverse osmosis desalination systems. It also connects health facilities to water, installs sanitation facilities, provides WASH education, and in emergencies fuels desalination plants and pumping stations, refills communal tanks, and delivers bottled water.
