Lebanon staring into abyss amid govt impasse
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President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri Monday failed to make any breakthrough in the monthslong Cabinet formation stalemate, raising fears of instabilty and a total economic collapse.
Soon after news of the failed Aoun-Hariri talks broke, the Lebanese pound, which had regained some of its value in the past few days on hopes of a Cabinet breakthrough, resumed its nosedive against the US dollar on the black market, reaching around LL13,500 after trading for around LL11,550 earlier in the day.
As the Lebanese reeled from the deteriorating economic and living conditions and the devastating effects of the crashing pound, Hariri emphasized that a government of specialists was the only chance to halt the economic collapse through implementing of a string of reforms stipulated in the French initiative.
