'Strong Lebanon' Says Some 'Exploiting' Economic Crisis to Undermine Aoun's Term

The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc on Tuesday accused rival parties of “exploiting” the current economic and financial woes in a bid to “undermine” President Michel Aoun’s tenure.

“There won’t be an economic collapse and what’s needed is calm,” bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced after a weekly meeting.

“Some have held President Michel Aoun responsible for what we are going through, but I will allow myself to talk and say that the last one who might get scared is President Aoun and his responsibility is to make initiatives to resolve problems and crises,” Kanaan added.

“I don’t think that there has been a president who made initiatives as much as President Aoun did, but implementation is the responsibility of the government as a whole and the relevant ministries,” the lawmaker went on to say.

Decrying that some parties are seeking to “exploit” the economic crisis to “undermine” Aoun’s tenure, Kanaan stressed that the president and his political party are not weak and will remain defiant.

“Our concern is to rescue the situation and shoulder the responsibility,” the MP added, noting that “there are a lot of solutions that we have presented and will keep presenting.”

Lebanon's central bank is to facilitate access to dollars for importers of petroleum products, wheat and medicine, state media said Tuesday, following fears of a dollar shortage and possible currency devaluation.

Local media said last week banks and money exchange shops were rationing dollar sales in the country, where Lebanese pounds and U.S. dollars are used interchangeably in everyday transactions.

Petrol station owners threatened to strike over a lack of dollars at a fixed exchange rate to pay for imports, while flour producers complained they had to resort to much higher rates from money changers.

The central bank on Monday adopted the measure to allow certain importers to obtain dollars at the bank rate to pay for key imports.

Lebanon has had a fixed exchange rate of around 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar in place since 1997.

Central bank governor Riad Salameh last week denied that the country was facing a currency reserve crisis, but it has become very difficult to withdraw dollars from ATMs in Beirut.

Lebanon's public debt stands at around $86 billion -- more than 150 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) -- according to the finance ministry.

Eighty percent of that debt is owed to Lebanon's central bank and local banks.

In July, parliament passed an austerity budget as part of conditions to unlock $11 billion in aid pledged at a conference in Paris last year.