SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 5 December 2024, Thursday |

The authority knew about the nitrate and did nothing,, so will it move before the second explosion?

As the Lebanese political and economic calendar papers fly in quickly, so too, are the funds of the Banque du Liban reserve earmarked to support basic and vital commodities. Until now, the political authority has not acted, and the caretaker government – under the pretext that it is doing business – has not taken the initiative too seriously to discuss this alarming and dangerous situation. It is required to intensify its meetings and work  night and day to come up with a plan that rationalizes the support these goods, the most important of which are flour, medicine and fuel, and transfers them to the families most in need, via a ration card or through alternative options that are supposed to be specialists, who in principle make up this government, that allow access to Support for needy groups, not for  major merchants to benefit from it, as is the case today.

But until this moment, all calls are in vain, according to what political sources told AL-Markaziya. Instead of focusing on work because, in exceptional circumstances, it is imperative for the caretaker government to intervene to avoid a social explosion, we see President Hassan Diab “warning” of the next worst, and trying to secure financing for the upcoming card, in the easiest way, by asking countries to give some dollars without carrying in hand a clear work map, the country will adopt to overcome this challenge.

Meanwhile, all the political forces that participated in the establishment of the one-color government would only complain about its shortcomings and urge them to work to address the economic and living crisis. This is the case of the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, which forgot that it has ministers in this government, and that its job today is to “work”, not “nag” about the current situation as the people and the opposition forces are doing.

As for the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, he, in turn, “urges the government,” “appeals to its president,” and “demands the ministers,” and nothing more. Yesterday, he received in the palace a joint delegation from the Parliamentary Committee for the National Economy, Trade, Industry and Planning, and the Economic and Social Council, who delivered to him the participatory paper that was agreed upon as an entry point to redirect the support. The President of the Republic discussed with his guests the “mechanism to be adopted to implement the paper,” describing it as “important In its content, even if it was delayed some time, “stressing” the need to find quick and practical solutions to the issue of support. ”

This failing behavior by the officials puts the Lebanese on the brink of an inevitable deadly disaster, and throws them into a volcano from which they will only get out with heavy losses. Unless the people of government hasten to devise a plan to stop the depletion of the central reserve, and unless they also rush to form a government capable of “bringing” fresh money into Beirut, the resounding fall will be very soon. After the warnings of the governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh and his correspondence in this regard to the concerned parties, Moody’s warned in a memo yesterday that Lebanon’s loss of correspondent banking relations will accelerate its economic decline. “The encroachment on the mandatory reserves of banks with the Banque du Liban in light of the government’s continuing impasse will increase the risks to the banks,” it said, adding that the permanent loss of correspondent banking relationships will increase Lebanon’s dependence on official external financing, as cross-border payments and clearing services will remain in a state of paralysis until After a comprehensive debt restructuring, which would dampen any potential recovery.

Will the system wake up from its repression and assume its moral, political and economic duties, and put an end to its arguments before it is too late, or does it insist on killing the Lebanese slowly and in cold blood for the sake of its personal interests? On August 4, she was aware of the presence of nitrates in the port and did nothing about it … Today, it knows that the tragedy is coming, , so will it move?

AL-Markaziya