Premier of Lebanon appeal to invest $10 bn in economy of his country for compensation "refugee crisis"
Lebanese Prime Minister urged the international community to make "adequate and substantial" investments total of $10 billion for the reimbursement of expenses of "the Syrian crisis' refugees and for modernization of the the country's infrastructure.
At least 1 million people fleeing neighbouring Syria’s war have poured into Lebanon since the conflict began in 2011, making up a quarter of the small country’s population and seriously straining its public services.
“In the coming three years, Lebanon needs no less than eight to ten billion dollars’ worth of new investments,” Saad al-Hariri told a news conference in Beirut.
Hariri said that international contributions, “while appreciated ... are not proportional to the large needs of displaced Syrians and host communities.”
Hariri appealed for funding for a three-year plan aimed at equipping Lebanon to better withstand the refugee influx and shore up its economy.
Most of Lebanon’s infrastructure has been awaiting repair since its 15-year civil war ended in 1990, and its debt-to-GDP ratio is forecast by the World Bank at 155 percent this year, the third highest in the world.
At the top of Hariri’s priority list is a budget, which the country has not had since 2005, and a better environment for business, his economic adviser, Mazen Hanna, told Reuters recently.
Source: Al Arabiya
