"Lebanon is far from bankruptcy and the country is going to organize things," Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said after visiting the presidential palace in Baabda and meeting with Michel Aoun the President and Nabih Berri, the Parliament Speaker.
He said: "the position of Aoun, Berri & myself is one. We want to the reforms for the benefit of the Lebanese people, and these reforms are not directed against a specific sector, we have to be frank with the Lebanese people, there is an economic crisis, but that does not ignore the existence of a lot of rumors about the budget which we did not discuss and do not want to even discuss it."
Mr. Hariri considered that "the public sector employees are not entitled to strike, and the staff of the port and professors at the Lebanese University today are striking something that does not exist," the growth in the country cannot stay at 1 percent, and with the reforms we are aiming at 7 and 8 percent".
He also pointed out that "all sectors will contribute to the budget, including the banking sector, and we must work together not against each other," explaining that "the reforms carried out by the government is not imposed by the Cedar Conference, but in order to have a single standard in the state and for the Lebanese state."
Source: (Economic Bulletin website, Edited)