Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said his country has reached out to Arab nations, according to local reports.
However, there is no set date when a Lebanese delegation may visit them for help, he added, nixing some reporting in local news outlets.
“What has been circulated in some Lebanese newspapers regarding a confirmed date for visits to some Arab and Gulf countries is inaccurate,” the local reports quoted his office as having said in a statement.
The office confirmed that “calls with several countries are being held to arrange future visits,” without specifying a date.
The reports quoted sources as saying that Mikati’s visit to Qatar was postponed until some necessary steps were taken, but there was no further information on the nature of the operations.
Meanwhile, Mikati has received an official invitation to visit Kuwait, conveyed by the Gulf state’s ambassador in Beirut, Abdel-Al Al-Qena’i.
Meanwhile, the much-needed financial and economic aid to crisis-hit Lebanon is still locked until the government accomplishes fundamental reforms, which the international community demanded to grant the new Lebanese government its confidence.
On Sunday, the Lebanese presidential office announced that president Michele Aoun chaired a meeting in the presence of Mikati, Deputy PM Saadeh Al Shami, Minister of Finance Youssef Al-Khalil, and Minister of Economy Amin Salam.
The meeting was held to “complete discussions of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and to prepare the necessary files.”
Lebanon’s economic crisis has been described by the World Bank as one of the worst in the world, with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia having said that three out of every four Lebanese are now living in poverty.
With the Lebanese pound having lost more than 90 percent of its value since end-2019, the country is seeing a severe shortage of food, medicine, and fuel.
In fact, the fuel shortage is so dire that the country is predicted to see total blackout by the end of this month.