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France: Roadmap to aid Lebanon ‘unfulfilled’

December 3, 2020 at 11:16 am

French President Emmanuel Macron in Beirut on 6 August 2020 [THIBAULT CAMUS/POOL/AFP/Getty Images]

None of the measures required in the French roadmap for Lebanon have been implemented to help the country solve its major political and economic crises, the French presidency announced yesterday.

No progress was made with regards to the forensic audit of the central bank, the Banque du Liban (BDL), warning that “the deterioration of the financial situation in Lebanon means that the country will face more problems, which makes a real audit of the central bank more inevitable”.

An official in the French presidency said he does not believe the US sanctions on the Lebanese “political class” will have any effect in terms of helping to form a credible government capable of implementing reforms that would allow access to international financial aid.

France and the United Nations yesterday vowed to keep providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon but urged the country’s leaders to form a new government as a political deadlock in Beirut has blocked billions of dollars in assistance for the cash-strapped country hit by multiple crises.

This comes as Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), the company tasked with auditing Banque du Liban, withdrew from its contract saying its teams did not receive the documents they needed to carry out the work.

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