Lebanon calls on international donors to provide coronavirus relief funds
Lebanon's president said he welcomed any financial assistance from "the friends of Lebanon.”
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has asked the international community to help shore up his coronavirus-struck country as it plunges deeper into economic crisis.
“We welcome any international assistance from the friends of Lebanon,” Aoun said at the presidential palace in Baabda during a meeting of the UN-created International Support Group.
Specifically, Aoun asked donor governments to free up some $11 billion in aid pledges made during a conference in Paris in 2018. The $10.2 billion in loans and $860 million in grants were conditional on Lebanon making long-overdue reforms and public-spending cuts that donors say Beirut has not yet implemented.
“Given the danger of our current financial situation, and its significant economic impact on nationals, residents and refugees, our reform program will need external financial support,” Aoun said of Lebanon, one of the world’s most indebted countries.
