World Bank urges Lebanon to form government, warns of recession

6 November 2019, 5:34 pm

Edit

The World Bank urges protest-hit Lebanon to form a new government quickly, warning of the threat of an economic downturn that would deepen poverty and worsen unemployment.

The warning comes as anti-government demonstrators push on with rallies and hundreds of school children boycott classes.

Lebanon’s unprecedented protest movement has rallied since October 17 against a political class deemed incompetent and corrupt, despite the government’s resignation last week.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut on August 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The outgoing cabinet continues to function in a caretaker capacity but political leaders are haggling over the makeup of the next government, in a delay donors say the debt-saddled country can ill afford.

— AFP