Saudi: Support for Lebanon depends on serious, tangible reforms

The Saudi Cabinet yesterday said that any assistance provided to the current or future Lebanese government “depends on carrying out serious and tangible reforms”, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

“Any assistance provided to the current or future government depends on it carrying out serious and tangible reforms, while ensuring that aid reaches its beneficiaries, and avoiding mechanisms that enable corrupt people from controlling the fate of Lebanon,” the Cabinet said.

The Lebanese people are grappling with an unprecedented economic crisis, with poverty on the increase. Lebanon’s largest port is out of action, and billions of dollars are needed to restore downtown Beirut, in addition to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. All this has led to the World Bank warning that Lebanon is suffering one of the most severe crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century.

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