BEIRUT - Lebanon announced it cannot meet its debt payments and halted a March 9 bond payment of US$1.2 billion on Saturday , setting the heavily indebted state on course for a sovereign default as it grapples with a major financial crisis.
The long-brewing crisis came to a head last year as capital inflows slowed and protests erupted over decades of state corruption and bad governance.Must we bequeath them to our children?" Diab said. NOT PRODUCTIVE ENOUGH Diab, a little-known academic when he became prime minister, said corruption had drained the state while also criticising economic policies adopted since the war. Lebanon was importing 80 per cent of its needs and was not productive enough, he said.
Citing the World Bank, Diab said more than 40 per cent of people could soon find themselves under the poverty line. Lebanon has a population of around six million, including about one million Syrian refugees.