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PARIS: International donors pledged $11 billion in loans and grants Friday to help debt-ridden Lebanon at a conference in Paris that also sought to ensure the money is well spent in a country hit hard by the Syrian war next door.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised the international community’s “unprecedented mobilization” for Lebanon as crucial for building the conditions for a sustainable peace in the Middle East.
“At a time when the Levant probably lives one of the worst moments of its history ... it’s more important than ever to preserve the most precious asset: A peaceful, diverse and harmonious Lebanon,” Macron said.
In total, donors committed $10.2 billion in loans and $860 million in gifts, France’s ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher said on Twitter.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri outlined his country’s grim situation, saying his nation’s stability is at stake.
“It is not the stability of Lebanon alone. This is the stability of the region and, therefore, of our world,” Hariri said, warning that a collapse in Lebanon could ricochet throughout the Middle East and Europe.
Fears of economic collapse in Lebanon are mounting ahead of next month’s parliamentary election, the first in nine years.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced that France would provide 400 million euros ($489.3 million) in loans below market rates and would gift Lebanon another 150 million euros ($183.5 million).
“In a Middle East shaken by crises, wounded by civil wars, Lebanon remains a model of pluralism, tolerance and openness which we need,” he said.
“But Lebanon is not an island. It’s borne the full force of regional tensions and the Syria crisis,” he said, adding that it was also grappling with the threat of terrorism.
The meeting was not a classic donors’ conference, but meant to seek an investment plan around infrastructure, water and energy, delineate structural reforms, and mobilize the private sector, French officials have said.
Hariri, pointing out the impact of seven years of war in Syria, said that growth in Lebanon has dived from 8 percent to barely 1 percent.
Syria’s war has hindered land exports to Jordan, Iraq and Gulf Arab countries. Lebanon is also hosting 1.2 million refugees — accounting for nearly a quarter of the country’s population.
Rampant corruption by the country’s political class has taken another kind of toll, hollowing out infrastructure and basic services, with frequent water and electricity cutoffs.
Last week, Lebanon’s Parliament approved a budget — its second since 2005 — with a fiscal deficit of $4.8 billion. The national debt at the end of 2017 stood at $80 billion, or more than 150 percent of gross domestic product.
France has deep ties with Lebanon, a former protectorate.
Another conference on April 25 in Brussels will aim to help Lebanon better cope with Syrian refugees.
Some 40 countries sent representatives to the meeting.
The World Bank said it would “mobilize more than $4 billion over the next five years,” its chief executive Kristalina Georgieva announced on Twitter.
“Lebanon cannot succeed alone,” Hariri appealed, adding: “It’s not just a matter of Lebanon’s security, it’s about the security of the region and the whole world.”
The EU rowed in with a promise of 150 million euros, the Netherlands offered 300 million euros and Italy pledged 120 million euros, France’s ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher said.
France, which held mandate power over Lebanon for the first half of the 20th century, has been leading efforts to try stabilize the country.
The conference comes as Lebanon gears up for its first general elections in almost a decade in May with economic dark clouds gathering.
The government projects a deficit of $4.8 billion for 2018 — more than double the deficit in 2011, when Syria’s war started.
Economists say the state urgently needs to reduce its spending to avert a serious crisis. But public services such as water supplies, electricity and waste management have suffered huge underinvestment, compounding problems that date back decades.