Lebanon’s finance minister says replacing central bank governor is not ‘wise’

Lebanon’s finance minister said on Thursday replacing the central bank governor, Riad Salameh, today is not “wise.”

Finance Minister Youssef Khalil told local broadcaster MTV that nobody proposed removing the central bank governor, but “I do not imagine changing the central bank governor today is a wise matter.”

Salameh, who has support from several top politicians, is being probed in Lebanon and at least four European countries, with his role under close scrutiny since Lebanon’s economic collapse in 2019.

Salameh denies any wrongdoing during almost three decades leading the central bank.