World Bank Accuses Lebanese Politicians Of Cruelty Over Deposit: Report

Lebanon is in the third year of a financial meltdown that has left eight in ten people poor and which the World Bank says is both deliberate and may be one of the three worst in modern times.

The World Bank has said that assertions by Lebanese politicians that deposits kept in the country's collapsed banking sector are sacred are "cruel" because they "flagrantly contradict the reality."

Lebanon is in the third year of a financial meltdown that has left eight in ten people poor and which the World Bank says is both deliberate and may be one of the three worst in modern times.

"Political slogans for the sacrosanct of deposits are hollow and opportunistic; in fact, the constant abuse of this term by politicians is cruel," the World Bank said in a report released Tuesday.

"Not only does it flagrantly contradict reality, it prevents solutions to protect most, if not all small and medium depositors, in dollars and in cash," the report said.