The media office of former Prime Minister Hassan Diab issued a statement this afternoon, in which it commented on a recent statement by former Minister Mohamed Choucair, where he considered that the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri ceased because PM Hariri \u201crefused to refrain from paying the Eurobonds,\u201d while the government of PM Hassan Diab came into rule \u201cwith a prior decision and agreement to announce the failure to pay these bonds,\u201d adding that \u201cthe Central Bank had $34 billion in assets while only $500 million was needed to pay the bonds!”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The statement criticized former Minister Choucair\u2019s words in this regards, and his lack of awareness of the financial and economic reality, his lightness in approaching such a matter of significant importance and his underestimation of the magnitude of the economic crisis in the country.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As for the issue of subsidy-lifting, the statement indicated that \u201csubsidy\u201d is a policy adopted in Lebanon for a long time, taking different forms from subsidizing medicine, to flour, to supporting \u201csome\u201d bank and \u201csome\u201d politicians and businessmen, to supporting the dollar, etc…<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The statement stressed herein that former PM Hassan Diab \u201crefused to lift the subsidies without an alternative presented to the Lebanese citizen, such as the financing card,\u201d adding that \u201cif time goes back, PM Diab will again refuse to lift subsidies on gasoline, diesel, flour and medicine…because what occurred in the event of lifting the subsidies later on was a disaster for which the Lebanese paid a heavy price and queues continued in front of gas stations and bakeries at huge costs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The statement expressed certainty that former PM Saad Hariri \u201chad no knowledge\u201d of former Minister Choucair\u2019s words, adding that \u201cit remains up to him [Hariri] to take the appropriate stance in this regards, for he knows sufficiently Mr. Choucair’s capabilities in assessing the financial situation of Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Finally, the statement by former PM Diab\u2019s media office considered that \u201cMinister Choucair ought to have completed a critical review of the past stage, and to have approached matters far from superficial, narrow and revengeful considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The media office of former Prime Minister Hassan Diab issued a statement this afternoon, in which it commented on a recent statement by former Minister Mohamed Choucair, where he considered that the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri ceased becau…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n