Lebanon’s finance and budget committees have approved a draft law allowing the printing of larger banknotes, including 500,000 and 1 million Lebanese pound (LBP) bills. This decision comes long overdue, as it should have been taken when the Lira lost over 98% of its value during the financial crisis.

However, these banknotes won’t be in circulation anytime soon. The law still needs to be voted on by the general assembly, and the central bank must finalize the designs and issue a decree for their release. This proposal was first suggested in 2020 but never moved forward, so the designs may already exist—though I can’t confirm whether they match those shown in the post.

To put things in perspective, 500,000 LBP is now worth around $5.50, compared to $340 back in 2019.