During Thursday’s national meeting, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri insisted that the Lebanese government should declare a state of financial emergency to stop the economy from collapsing.
Amid fervent opposition from some political leaders and political movements alike, if for different reasons, the controversial national meeting commenced on Thursday with the politicians and leaders who did turn up.
Among those was Parliament Speaker Berri, who recently warned of the repercussions of the government’s stalling regarding implementing the necessary reforms.
He warned that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide no financial support to Lebanon unless the officials rush to fulfill its conditions.
The government, the central bank, and all of Lebanon’s commercial banks must declare “a financial state of emergency” and review all the necessary steps to protect the collapsing national currency, Berri stated.
The official made this declaration during an emergency meeting of the Amal Movement, which he leads, on Wednesday, June 24th.
“The state’s finances and livelihoods must not be turned into a field of experimentation for the theories of some advisors; neither inside nor outside [Lebanon],” he added.
The black markets in currency, food, medicine, and fuel keeping hold of the Lebanese as hostages “is unacceptable,” Berri affirmed.
Later, during Thursday’s national meeting, Berri was asked about his call for a state of emergency and he maintained, “I stand by my words.”
The said meeting’s closing statement declared, among other things, that Lebanon’s civil peace is an essential condition for its economic, political, social, financial, and monetary stability.
The attendees urged everyone to stop all kinds of “incitement campaigns” that would “stir strife, threaten civil peace, and destabilize internal security,” while noting that the freedom of speech is guaranteed, “provided that it is exercised within the limits of the law.”
