Lebanon pleads for aid at World Government Summit in Dubai 

Cash-strapped Lebanon is trying to convince donors that their money will be spent “in the right way” as its usual backers remain wary of extending aid without a reform agenda.

“We expect aid from all of you once we convince you it’ll be spent in the right way, caretaker Finance Minister Youssef El Khalil told a meeting of government and institutional officials in Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.

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Donors have pledged billions of dollars on the condition that Beirut embarks on critical economic reforms and tackle endemic corruption.

Lebanon struck a $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund last year on the condition it carries out measures including audits of the central bank and its banking sector.

“We are explaining our situation to the UAE and all those participating,” El Khalil said on the sidelines of the conference.

The UAE is listening and asking questions, and Lebanon hasn’t formally asked for aid and they haven’t offered, he said. No specific amounts are being discussed.

The country’s financial implosion has been dubbed by the World Bank as one of the worst globally since the mid-19th century.

The US-based lender has supported the Middle Eastern nation with millions of dollars since the crisis erupted in 2019.

Lebanon defaulted on $30 billion in international debt almost two years ago and saw its economy crater, with a combination of triple-digit inflation and a currency meltdown wiping out people’s life savings.

“The private sector has been doing better and better,” El Khalil told the conference. He’s part of a caretaker government that was installed two years ago.

The issue is with the public sector, he said. The government spends more than 60 percent of its budget on salaries of 300,000 state employees including the armed forces.

A senior World Bank official said Tuesday that Lebanon is in the most precarious situation in the Middle East in terms of debt transparency.

“Lebanon has a huge governance issue, an immense governance issue, the economy is not manned today that’s the issue,” said Ferid Belhaj, the World Bank’s vice president for Middle East and North Africa, in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

“You feel that there is nobody driving the car of the economy of Lebanon.”

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