Int'l conference on Lebanon to be held in Paris on February 6: Sources

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Jan 2023 23:51

The current crisis is argued to have started since 2019, but it really began thirty years back in time when the central bank of Lebanon first implemented neoliberal openness.

A protester holds Lebanese pounds as he stands in front of burning tires they set on fire, in front the Central Bank building, where the anti-government demonstrators rally against the Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and the deepening financial crisis in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023 (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An upcoming international conference on Lebanon will be hosted in Paris on February 6 with the participation of the US, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

"An Arab international meeting on the current situation in Lebanon will take place in the French capital of Paris on Monday, February 6," the sources said.

The last conference in Lebanon was held in August 2021. Participants reportedly managed to raise around $370 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanon.

The current crisis is argued to have started in 2019, but it really began thirty years back in time when the central bank of Lebanon first implemented neoliberal openness.

It did so as it emerged beleaguered from the war and under the guidance of the ideological apparatuses of US capital, which include inter-alia the IMF and the World Bank and the litany of liberal NGOs.

Due to this, the currency has lost more than 20 times its value against the dollar, and about 70% of the population is reported to live in income poverty, on less than $14 per day.