Caretaker Prime Minister Diab chaired on Tuesday a meeting devoted to addressing the economic, financial and social situation, as well as negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
The meeting was attended by Ministers Zeina Akar, Ghazi Wazni, Raoul Nehme, Imad Hoballah, Ramzi Musharrafieh and Abbas Mortada, in addition to Central Bank’s Governor Riad Salameh, Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Judge Mahmoud Makkieh and President of the Association of Banks in Lebanon Salim Sfeir.
Discussions featured high over contacts the Minister of Finance periodically makes with the IMF, and they were also briefed on the stages of the work conducted by Alvarez forensic audit company, that targets the BDL accounts, and which is supposed to start soon.
In this context, Diab stressed his refusal to talk about lifting subsidies and called for focusing work on rationalizing subsidies for foodstuffs, medicine, flour and fuel.
Diab also held another meeting in the presence of Ministers Zeina Akar, Mohammad Fahmy, Michel Najjar, Tarek Majzoub, Hamad Hassan, Marie Claude Najm and Charbel Wehbe, as well as Secretary General of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Mahmoud Makkieh, Chairman of the Council for Development and Reconstruction Nabil Al-Jisr, Governor of Beirut Judge Marwan Abboud, Secretary General of the Higher Relief Commission Major General Mohammad Khair, Head of the Advanced Emergency Room Brigadier General Sami Howayek, Brigadier General Fares Fares, Brigadier General Elias Al-Bisri, Head of the Disaster Risk Management Unit Zahi Chahine, in addition to PM’s Advisor Elias Assaf.
The meeting dealt with the repercussions of the Beirut port explosion.
In this context, Caretaker PM Diab reaffirmed the implementation of the decision related to the payment of compensation from the Higher Relief Commission for about 10,000 damaged houses, in addition to the compensation being paid by several donors.
He also stressed on the need to accelerate the consolidation of dilapidated buildings and the restoration of building facades, government buildings and public schools.
The meeting’s attendees were also notified of the immediate need for rubble removal after securing a collection facility, for addressing the issue of the 49 port warehouses containing burning materials.
The meeting also discussed the prisons dossier in light of the coronavirus outbreak, and ways to reduce overcrowding, in addition to allocating hospitals and beds for infected prisoners. A special meeting on this topic will be held in due course.
Afterwards, the interlocutors conversed on the issue of waste, the expansion of the new Bourj Hammoud landfill, and the sewage cleaning in Beirut before wintertime.