Jumblat Calls for Austerity Measures to Counter 'State Paralysis'

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Wednesday warned of the consequences shall the Lebanese government fails to take “austerity measures” to shrink the country’s growing public debt.

In remarks he made in a tweet, Jumblat said: “The public debt is increasing each moment and the remedy is to take serious State austerity measures at various levels. Otherwise, the CEDRE conference will be of no use.”

Jumblat added saying “the PSP is going to present some ideas to serve as the basis for the next government,” he said, as he warned that any further delay to lineup the government “could lead to total paralysis.”

Lebanon recorded a government debt equivalent to 149 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2017. Government Debt to GDP in Lebanon averaged 153.07 percent from 2000 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 183 percent in 2006 and a record low of 131 percent in 2012.