French foreign minister starts Lebanon visit, to urge reform

Reuters

1595489026295902000

BEIRUT: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to urge Lebanon to enact badly-needed reforms to help get the country out of an acute financial crisis during a visit to Beirut which started on Thursday with a meeting with President Michel Aoun.
The financial crisis, rooted in decades of state corruption and waste, marks the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 1975-90 civil war. A collapsing currency has led to soaring inflation and poverty and savers have lost free access to their accounts in a paralyzed banking system.