Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, wins enough backing to become Lebanon’s prime minister

The latest Gov't plan to restructure Lebanese banks relies on the the average person's ignorance of the concept of time value of money. The table below shows an estimate of the implied haircut on a deposit if it is received over the 11-15 years proposed in the Gov't plan rather than received upfront (i.e., 34-58% haircut). For example: Assume you have a $100,00 "Protected Deposit". Under the current draft of the Gov't plan, you would receive a monthly instalment over 11 to 15 years (amount/timing to be set by BDL from time to time -- so you can't even know today). The total payout would be $100,000 assuming your bank or BDL don't go bankrupt again. But the value of $1 in 15 years isn't the same as the value of $1 today. Taking this into account, receiving $100,000 over 11-15 years is the same as receiving ~$60,000 today. You also need to account for the risk that the bank goes bankrupt again over this period, so it's actually the equivalent of receiving $50,000 or less today. So the plan actually haircuts the "Protected Amount" by ~40%-60+%. Not sure you can call that a "Protected Amount". There is absolutely no reason to extend the repayment period this long. Come clean with depositors and tell them you are only planning to pay them $50,000 of their $100,000 "Protected Amount" in order to rescue more banks. That's the more honorable thing to do. The Zero Coupon Bond concept works exactly the same way. The Gov't is giving you a financial instrument that will pay $100,000 (by way of example) in 20 or 30 years. You are much better off receiving $20,000 today. In 20-30 years, you will end up with significantly more money while taking less risk. It's nonsensical.