Lebanon closer to govt as fiscal pressures loom

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Ministerdesignate Saad al Hariri looked closer to forming a new national unity government as a major Christian party declared it would take part despite being offered an “unjust” share of cabinet seats.

Hariri has been trying to form the new government since a May parliamentary election, with rivalry between the Lebanese Forces (LF) and President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) — both Christian groups — seen as the main obstacle.

The delay has held up economic reforms that have been put off for years but are now seen as more pressing than ever.

Lebanon is wrestling with the world’s third largest public debtto-gdp ratio, stagnant growth and what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said are increasing vulnerabilities within its financial system.

LF leader Samir Geagea said the ministerial portfolios offered to his party represented a “very big injustice” when compared with the size of its enlarged parliamentary bloc and the to other groups.

But the LF had nevertheless decided to take part “to continue to work from inside the government to achieve our goals,” he told a news conference.

A government formed on this basis would be seen as a political victory for Aoun, an ally of the Hezbollah, over his old adversary Geagea, Hezbollah’s most prominent opponent in Lebanon.

The election produced a parliament tilted in favour of Hezbollah. Together, Hezbollah and its political allies secured more than 70 of the 128 seats.

The LF nearly doubled its number of MPS, winning 15 seats.

Hezbollah is expected to take control of the health ministry, the most significant cabinet post it has held, and to increase its number of ministers to three from two in the outgoing cabinet.

The group also wants to see one of its allies installed as a minister in the new government of 30 ministers, two senior officials familiar with the matter said. ministries offered