The office of the president of Lebanon has announced that the United States will help the country get electricity.
A Twitter account connected to the office said Lebanese President Michel Aoun had had a conversation with the US ambassador to his country.
It added that Aoun had been assured that the US would help the country procure electricity from various sources.
Read the tweet here:
الرئيس عون تلقى اتصالاً هاتفياً من السفيرة الأميركية في لبنان دوروثي شيا أبلغته قرار الإدارة الأميركية بمساعدة لبنان لاستجرار الطاقة الكهربائية من الأردن عبر سوريا عن طريق الغاز المصري
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) August 19, 2021
Lebanon has been struggling with fuel shortages for at least a couple of months now, which has led to protracted power outages across the country.
The situation has been made worse by the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country in the past few weeks.
Hospitals across the country are struggling to keep patients alive, as power cuts necessitate the use of generators to run life-saving equipment.
Now, those generators need fuel, which too is at a premium in the country, with Lebanon’s central bank governor effectively ending fuel subsidies earlier this month.
The economic crisis in Lebanon is so dire that the World Bank has said it is among the 10 worst of its kind since the mid-1800s.
The global body also said the crisis could be among the top three in the world if it was not addressed immediately.