Qatar To Support Lebanon In Solving Economic Crisis In Country - Finance Minister

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published December 14, 2019 | 08:21 PM

Qatar will assist Lebanon in dealing with the economic crisis that the country is currently suffering from amid nationwide anti-government protests, as it is crucial to maintain economic and political stability in the country, Qatari Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al-Emadi said on Saturday

BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2019) Qatar will assist Lebanon in dealing with the economic crisis that the country is currently suffering from amid nationwide anti-government protests, as it is crucial to maintain economic and political stability in the country, Qatari Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al-Emadi said on Saturday.

"We will look at Lebanon as a very important country in the region, where economic and political stability is very important for the Gulf, for the middle East and, I think, also globally. So Qatar will always stand by Lebanon," Al-Emadi said at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar.

The minister added that Qatar was "one of the greatest supporters for a lot of the Arab countries, the Middle East countries that were going through economic and political difficulties," and Lebanon was not an exception.

"We know that today they [the Lebanese] are going through some sort of political and economic difficulties.

We made a commitment, if I remember, that of $500 million ... If we commit something ... Qatar always stands by its word," he said.

The protests in Lebanon erupted on October 17 following the government's decision to introduce a tax on internet calls made via the WhatsApp messenger. Despite the measure being scrapped, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his cabinet being dismissed, people have remained in the streets to demand economic reforms, specifically in the banking sector due to the worsening living standards amid a wider economic crisis.

The rallies have grown violent and are now often accompanied by clashes between protesters and police. The situation escalated to the point at which the government was forced to order the military to refrain from using excessive force against the protesters.