BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al Hariri has agreed a package of reforms with government partners to ease an economic crisis that has sparked nationwide protests, official sources said, with a cabinet meeting expected on Monday to approve them.
The decisions call for a 50-per cent reduction in the salaries of current and former officials and $3.3 billion in contributions from banks to achieve a “near zero deficit” for the 2020 budget.
It also includes a plan to privatise its telecommunications sector and an overhaul to its crippled electricity sector, a crucial demand among potential foreign donors and investors needed to unlock some $11 billion in funds to Lebanon.
Earlier, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets to condemn political stasis on Sunday, the largest in four days of demonstrations that have crippled the country and threatened the coalition government.
The capital Beirut, second city Tripoli in the north and the southern port of Tyre came to a standstill, with streets filled with protesters waving the national flag, chanting slogans.
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