Lebanon is in urgent need of a national dialogue to find a way out of its economic crisis and tackle defense issues, according to Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Monday. 

"From my constitutional position, I am calling for an urgent national dialogue to reach understanding on three items: administrative and financial decentralization, the defense strategy of Lebanon, and a financial and economic recovery plan that would include the necessary reforms and a fair distribution of losses," Aoun said in his address to the population.

إنني ومن موقعي كمؤتمن على الدستور أدعو لحوار وطني عاجل من أجل التفاهم على 3 مسائل والعمل على إقرارها ضمن المؤسسات، وهي:
* اللامركزية الإدارية والمالية الموسعة
* الاستراتيجية الدفاعية لحماية لبنان
* خطة التعافي المالي والاقتصادي بما فيها الإصلاحات اللازمة والتوزيع العادل للخسائر

— General Michel Aoun (@General_Aoun) December 27, 2021

The security of the country is a matter of the army, the resistance, and the people, but the state is in the center, said Aoun. 

"Lebanon as a state will be able to exist when based on the constitution, law, and institutions," he added. 

لا وجود للبنان من دون دولة، واستمرارية بناء هذه الدولة تستند الى أسس هي: الدستور والقوانين والمؤسسات.
هذا ما يؤدي الى انتظام في الدولة، وهو مطلب كل لبناني اكان مقيماً او في الانتشار، المطلب واحد: قيام الدولة

— General Michel Aoun (@General_Aoun) December 27, 2021

On Saturday, the president contended that Lebanon's recovery from the current economic crisis will take some six to seven years and that there will be inevitable changes. 

Lebanon needs $12-15 bn for economic recovery: BDL chief

Lebanon requires $12-15 billion to start its process of economic recovery and support its fast-diminishing foreign currency reserves, BDL governor Riad Salameh said Tuesday.

Lebanon is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, which the World Bank ranked among the top 10 worst economic crises in the world since the mid-nineteenth century.

Over 80% of the population lives in poverty, and the national currency, the Lebanese pound, has lost more than 90% of its black market value as Beirut is yet to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund amid a political crisis.

"Our quota in the International Monetary Fund is four billion," Salameh said.

"The mandatory reserves are around $12.5 billion," that the central bank can't spend, Salameh said. He also explained that an additional $1.5 billion in reserves had been freed up for central bank spending.

Lebanon's mandatory reserves were $32 billion before the economic crisis started in the country.