Diab Prepares to Visit Arab and European Countries
The competent departments at the Grand Serail have launched contacts aimed at preparing for a tour, or several tours, that Prime Minister Hassan Diab intends to carry out to “enable Lebanon to overcome the difficult period it is going through,” media reports said.
“The tour is likely to include influential Gulf Arab capitals as well as European capitals some of which belong to the International Support Group for Lebanon,” informed sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday.
Diab has said his cabinet would draw up an emergency rescue plan for the country by the end of the month.
The crisis-hit country has debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 150 percent, one of the highest in the world.
It is currently in the throes of a severe economic meltdown and a biting liquidity crunch that has seen banks impose stringent controls on withdrawals and transfers abroad.
Credit rating agencies and economists have warned of dwindling foreign currency reserves that have plummeted in recent months, threatening import payments and a devaluation of the Lebanese pound.
The local currency has lost a third of its value on the black market.
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