BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s president has said he believes Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri is incapable of forming a government to pull the nation out of financial crisis.
President Michel Aoun’s verdict was contained in a letter read out to parliament on Friday and which will be discussed on Saturday.
The letter, seen by Reuters, follows months of political negotiations.
The existing government has been acting in a caretaker capacity since resigning after a huge explosion in a portside warehouse tore through Beirut in August. The blast further complicated the task of rescuing an economy that has been in a tailspin since late 2019.
“It has become evident that the prime minister-designate is unable to form a government capable of salvation and meaningful contact with foreign financial institutions, international funds and donor countries,” Aoun, a Maronite Christian, wrote in his letter.
Hariri, who like his assassinated father has headed several previous governments, was present during Friday’s session.
Hariri was designated in October, after a previous prime minister-designate failed to form a cabinet of technocrats.
Tensions with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab nations were stoked this week by comments about them by Lebanon’s foreign minister in a television interview. The minister implied that the Arab countries were responsible for the rise of Daesh terrorist group. The minister quit his caretaker post shortly afterwards.