Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday signed decrees promoting armed forces officers.

A statement issued by Hariri’s office said he signed “all the decrees on the promotion of officers as sent to him by the Army Command.”

President Michel Aoun on Friday held talks with Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab, who visited him at the Baabda Palace.

The National News Agency said Diab did not make a statement after the two-hour meeting and that the PM-designate briefed the President on the latest developments pertaining to the government formation process.

Caretaker Minister of Interior Raya el-Hassan on Friday handed two prison improvement reports to newly elected head of Beirut Bar Association, Melhem Khalaf.

Hizbullah said on Friday the party is looking forward to the formation of a government of “specialists”, noting that it tried to “rename” PM Saad Hariri as premier but he refused.

President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri reportedly asked Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab to “decelerate” his efforts to form a new government after “sensing his eagerness to form it within days,” the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Friday.

With volunteer kitchens, makeshift clinics and donation centres, Lebanon's protesters are helping their compatriots survive the worst economic crisis since the civil war by offering services many can no longer afford.

MP Hasan Fadlallah of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday said the Finance Parliamentary Committee discussed ways of retrieving funds transferred abroad in violation of restrictions.

"We are talking about $11 billion," Fadlallah said, without specifying who carried out such transfers or when they took place.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday posted a tweet commemorating slain minister Mohammed Shatah, who was killed in a December 2013 car bombing in central Beirut.

“Mohammed Shatah was the force of moderation and dialogue in the era of divisions and extremism and he was the symbol of loyalty and bravery during the difficult days,” Hariri tweeted.

The head of the Finance Parliamentary Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan on Thursday announced that the committee has approved the 2020 state budget, slashing expenses worth LBP 1,000 billion from the draft devised by the government.

“The surplus secured in the budget will provide the needed funds for the health care of 12,000 self-registered social security beneficiaries,” Kanaan said after a meeting for the committee with caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and Association of Banks chief Salim Sfeir.

Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab has reportedly met with Speaker Nabih Berri away from media spotlight to discuss the delayed formation of a new government, LBCI television reported on Thursday.