Report: Cabinet Facing Three-Month Grace Period
Lebanon’s newly formed government launches its first meeting on Monday after gaining the Parliament’s confidence amid local, regional and international observation for the promises it vowed to achieve in its Policy Statement, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.
Well-informed sources said the government has “seriously given itself, internally and externally, a grace period of three-month to prove an ability for achievement, otherwise it will expose its failure in addressing critical issues considered dangerous for the country’s future mainly at the economic and financial levels.”
“One of the biggest challenges facing the cabinet is corruption,” added the sources on condition of anonymity. “It has reached a dangerous level. It would be difficult to achieve economic and financial rescue without fighting it.”
“What necessitates the practical and rapid initiation of the fight against corruption is that donor countries and international financial institutions are demanding this fight in order to provide any new aid or loans,” they told the daily.
In order to ensure there is no waste in the disbursement of funds allocated to projects, “these institutions have started requiring to directly supervise their implementation,” added the sources.
A conference dubbed CEDRE in the French capital in April pledged aid worth $11 billion (9.5 billion euros), promising to stave off an economic crisis.
Lebanon is one of the world's most indebted countries, with public debt estimated at 141 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2018, according to credit ratings agency Moody's.
Annual economic growth averaged 9 percent over the last two full years before the war broke out in Syria, but has since plummeted to little more than one percent in recent years.
At the Paris conference, Lebanon committed to reforms including slashing public spending and overhauling the electricity sector.
In exchange, the international community has pledged major aid and loans, mostly for infrastructure projects that need to be signed off by the new government
Source: Naharnet
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