{"id":255237,"date":"2025-10-14T11:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T09:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/?p=255237"},"modified":"2025-10-14T16:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:46:11","slug":"exclusive-al-zantouti-the-difference-between-check-and-cash-is-a-legitimate-cost-not-burning-caused-by-liquidity-crisis-corruption-and-security-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/exclusive-al-zantouti-the-difference-between-check-and-cash-is-a-legitimate-cost-not-burning-caused-by-liquidity-crisis-corruption-and-security-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Al-Zantouti: “The Difference Between Check and Cash Is a Legitimate Cost, Not \u2018Burning\u2019; Caused by Liquidity Crisis, Corruption, and Security Conditions”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Economic analyst Khaled Al-Zantouti told our source in an exclusive statement:
\u201cI don\u2019t understand the origin of the term \u2018burning a check\u2019<\/em> \u2014 burning consumes the entire check, not just part of it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued:
\u201cAway from the showy discussions of some so-called \u2018analysts\u2019 about economic theories, money supply, and monetary bases \u2014 with their often unrealistic numbers and analyses \u2014 I believe, from a practical point of view, that the difference between check and cash value represents a service fee. It\u2019s compensation for the time value of money, covering the time gap between receiving the check and converting it into cash, as well as the effort spent in collecting it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added:
\u201cTherefore, the check-cash difference is a legitimate right for the party exerting effort to obtain its cash value, covering both the lost time and opportunity cost. It\u2019s more accurate to call it a cost<\/em> rather than burning<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained:
\u201cThis additional cost<\/em>, as everyone knows, results from the liquidity problem. So the cause is clear \u2014 but the question is: why has liquidity become a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that this problem is not recent or caused by the withdrawal of the 50-, 20-, and 5-dinar notes, but has existed for many years before those denominations were withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued:
\u201cIn my humble opinion, there are two main, complementary reasons: the first is corruption, and the second is security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He elaborated:
\u201cCorruption, by nature, is cowardly. The corrupt individual and his illicit funds must remain hidden and secret \u2014 even from close relatives \u2014 and are often literally kept under the tiles<\/em> until they can be laundered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued:
\u201cFrom there, the corrupt withdrew all their illicit money from banks. Through their agents<\/em> inside the banks \u2014 perhaps for commissions \u2014 they withdrew most of the available cash and began laundering the money by injecting it into the market. They did this by buying dollars on the open market<\/em> and speculating in foreign currencies at Souq Al-Mushir and near the Central Bank, or by purchasing real estate under the table<\/em> and sometimes using fake names.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added:
\u201cThe second reason is security-related \u2014 fear that others might access information about their accounts and balances amid unhealthy security conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued:
\u201cTherefore, unless we eradicate corruption and its roots, the liquidity problem will persist, \u2018check burning\u2019<\/em> will continue, and the dinar will keep losing value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added:
\u201cAs for the 2% cash withdrawal fee, it is an attempt by the Central Bank to reduce large cash withdrawals, but it will harm ordinary citizens. The so-called \u2018first-class\u2019<\/em> individuals \u2014 those involved in shady deals \u2014 won\u2019t care about the 2% as long as it serves their illicit trade and money laundering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said:
\u201cI should note positively the Central Bank\u2019s efforts to promote and expand the use of electronic payment systems. In fact, I urge the Central Bank to accelerate the adoption of digital banking<\/em> and learn from other countries\u2019 experiences \u2014 though I remain convinced that \u2018the thief often outsmarts the guard.\u2019<\/em> Still, I thank the Central Bank for taking this step, even if it came late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He concluded:
\u201cFinally, in most countries, laws permit any current account holder \u2014 if the bank refuses to allow them to use their balance in any legitimate way \u2014 to file a court request at any time to declare the bank bankrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Economic analyst Khaled Al-Zantouti told our source in an exclusive statement:\u201cI don\u2019t understand the origin of the term \u2018burning a check\u2019 \u2014 burning consumes the entire check, not just part of it!\u201d He continued:\u201cAway from the showy discussions of some so-called \u2018analysts\u2019 about economic theories, money supply, and monetary bases \u2014 with their often unrealistic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":255238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[613,721],"class_list":["post-255237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-libya","tag-liquidity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255247,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255237\/revisions\/255247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}