Hariri backs new PM ‘in bid to end impasse’

BEIRUT: Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is hoping his backing for businessman Samir Khatib as the new government leader will herald an end to the political stalemate gripping the country, sources say.

Sources close to Hariri told Arab News that his decision to nominate Khatib as replacement prime minister followed warnings that “the situation in the country is no longer tolerable.”

Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced parliamentary consultations next Monday to officially name the prime minister-designate.

Hariri, who resigned as prime minister in late October following weeks of protests against the country’s ruling elite, told reporters that he would not take part in the new government.

Sources said that Hariri had been in contact with the international community and with Arab officials “in an effort to avoid Lebanon’s collapse,” but had faced concerns that his caretaker government would be incapable of taking decisions. 

“We know that we could be criticized for accepting Khatib before binding consultations, but what can we do?” the sources said.

“The main issue is that the situation in the country is no longer tolerable.”

With Lebanon facing its worst economic crisis in decades, the next leadership will have to enact urgent reforms and attract foreign support to stave off even worse collapse after years of bad governance, corruption and waste.

Khatib, a highly regarded engineer and businessman, is a newcomer to government and has never held public office. He is executive vice president of Khatib & Alami, a global engineering firm with operations throughout the region, including Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman for the Lebanese president said that the immediate objective is to “secure broad support for the prime minister-designate in order to facilitate the formation of the new government.”

The spokesman also responded to a statement issued by former prime ministers, stressing that “the consultations conducted by President Michel Aoun are not a violation of the constitution or the Taif agreement, and the president is not infringing on the constitutional rights of anyone.” 

Protesters in Beirut and Saadnayel in the Bekaa Valley who blocked roads amid rumors of a new government were dispersed by troops using tear gas.

Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi and the Maronite bishops called for the formation of a “rescue government” to end the political vacuum in the country, warning that “successive crises that threaten the state might lead to famine.”

Lebanon’s alarming suicide rate due to the deteriorating economic conditions worsened when a 40-year-old man shot himself in the poor neighborhood of Nabaa in eastern Beirut after he was fired from his job. However, his employer later issued a statement denying that he had been dismissed.

Further restrictions were also imposed on Lebanese bank deposits, including limits on the amount that employees can retrieve from their salary.

Riad Salameh, governor of Lebanon’s central bank, asked banks on Tuesday to set a maximum interest rate of 5 percent on deposits in foreign currency and 8.5 percent on deposits in Lebanese currency.

He said the restrictions were essential “for the sake of public interest in the exceptional moments that the country is passing through and in order to protect citizens’ deposits.”