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A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 18 april 2019

Lebanon’s PM vows strict austerity reforms to avoid crash

By BASSEM MROUE some civil servants and
Associated Press members of the military
BEIRUT (AP) — Prime Min- may have to make “sac-
ister Saad Hariri warned rifices,” insisting that such
Wednesday that Leba- steps will not affect the
non is heading toward an poor.
economic “catastrophe” “I am not saying that Leb-
unless the government anon is about to collapse
implements strict austerity but if we don’t take ma-
measures to reduce a bal- jor steps, we will reach a
looning budget deficit and place where no one wants
massive national debt. to be,” Hariri said. Speaking
The stark warning came about overspending, Hariri
shortly after parliament added: “If we continue this
passed amendments nec- way, we will reach a catas-
essary to implement an trophe.”
ambitious plan to restruc- He later posted on Twitter
ture the country’s crum- that his two-month old gov-
bling electricity sector. ernment “is obliged to put
Restructuring the power forth an austerity budget
sector, dysfunctional since unprecedented in the his-
Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil tory of Lebanon.”
war, has been among key Civil servants protest in front of the government building during a parliament session to approve a No agreement yet has
demands for reforms by plan to restructure the country’s electricity sector, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. been reached but leaks
the World Bank and inter- Associated Press about possible wage cuts
national donors. The electricity plan was ap- er around the clock. amid discussions by the have led to random pro-
Outside parliament, hun- proved by a large majority In the longer term, the plan government of what it tests and street closures by
dreds of civil servants pro- in parliament Wednesday, calls for power production called “painful” and “un- members of a worried pub-
tested, fearing the austerity days after it was agreed on to be increased by more popular” measures to be lic. Foreign Minister Gebran
measures to be adopted by the government. It aims than 3,000 megawatts over taken to try to cut the Bassil tweeted over the
in the new budget would to eventually bring electric- the next six years by build- budget deficit and slow weekend that if wages are
lead to wage cuts for state ity to the Lebanese 24 hours ing new plants and relying the growth of the national not reduced, “there will be
employees amid the eco- a day, securing an addi- more on renewable en- debt, which stands at more no salaries for anyone” in
nomic crisis. The budget is tional 1,450 megawatts of ergy. than $85 billion, or more the future.
still in the works and is ex- temporary power by next Lebanese officials hope than 150% of the gross do- “The draft budget does not
pected to be sent to par- year so that total output that plans to fix the elec- mestic product, making it include so-called wage
liament for approval in the will reach 3,500 megawatts tricity sector that has cost among the highest in the cuts,” Finance Minister Ali
coming weeks. — enough to provide pow- state coffers about $2 bil- world. “We have approved Hassan Khalil told reporters
lion annually would lead to the electricity plan and we after Wednesday’s parlia-
the release of $11 billion in are working on the bud- ment session, seeking to
loans and grants made by get, which will include a calm nerves.
international donors at the wide austerity package,” Some economists say the
CEDRE conference in Paris Hariri told journalists in a crisis has begun already
last year. tense back and forth after and is getting worse every
The protest by more than Wednesday’s parliament week with new waves of
2,000 state employees in session. Without going into layoffs, rising debt and slow
downtown Beirut comes details, Hariri hinted that growth.q
Iraqi war games: Army trains in desert,

defeats ‘militants’

By PHILIP ISSA firing blanks. The exercise mounts kidnappings, am-
Associated Press was the final day in the drill bushes and assassinations
TAJI BASE, Iraq (AP) — The of the 2,000-strong Iraqi bri- in rural Iraq.
“militants” were holding gade, the latest group to “Our job is to keep the Iraqi
on stubbornly to their posi- receive combat training security forces trained up
tion in the scabrous desert from Australian, New Zea- to speed and make sure
outside Baghdad, block- land, and Singaporean co- they can defeat Daesh
ing the Iraqi troops’ ad- alition forces at the sprawl- whatever phase of the
vance when an infantry ing Taji military base, north war they happen to be in,”
unit sprung out of the right of Baghdad. Groat added.
flank, forcing the enemy It’s known as Task Group Taji Training the Iraqi army is a
into a hasty retreat. 8 and the maneuver dis- core objective of the coali-
At first glance, it looked played some of the tactics tion.
real, but the scenario play- drilled into the brigade dur- Poorly trained and
ing out this week was not ing the eight-week course. equipped, underfunded,
an operation against the Today, the group is a shad- and corrupted in the de-
Islamic State group but a ow of what it once was cade after the 2003 U.S.-led
military exercise. — IS no longer holds any invasion of Iraq, the army
The “militants” were Iraqi urban areas on congruous disintegrated in the face of
soldiers, and the guns were stretch of territory but still IS sweeping advance.q