"Immense challenges" await his team. The new Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned that Lebanon was facing an economic "disaster", Wednesday January 22, after the first meeting of its government.
"We are facing a disaster and we must alleviate the impact and repercussions of this disaster on the Lebanese," said the Prime Minister, according to a statement read by a senior official after the cabinet meeting.
"Rescue team"
The new Lebanese government, whose composition was announced Tuesday evening after several weeks of political negotiations under tension, met Wednesday morning at the presidential palace of the Baabda, in the presence of Michel Aoun, the head of state.
Hassan Diab, 61-year-old engineering professor and former education minister, promised Tuesday night that his government, which he presents as a "rescue team," will do everything possible to meet the demands of the protest movement. which has been agitating the country for more than three months.
In recent times, the economic crisis has worsened with mass layoffs, drastic banking restrictions and a sharp depreciation of the Lebanese pound against the dollar.
The new team is thus faced with a titanic task, in a country which is collapsing under a debt approaching 90 billion dollars (81 billion euros), that is to say more than 150% of its Gross domestic product (GDP).
With AFP
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