Lebanon's new cabinet to increase economic growth

Beirut - Increasing economic prosperity in Lebanon will be at the top of the agenda of the country's new national unity government headed by Premier Saad Hariri, an economic adviser to the premier said Friday.

'The premier and his economic team believes that a major challenge facing the Lebanese government today is the economic issue and this should be the main focus in the coming few months,' said the adviser who preferred not to be named.

'Lebanon should be able to enhance investments so all Lebanese will benefit from this prosperity,' the adviser said.

'So the main task for this government will be to ensure political stability as well as legal frameworks necessary to encourage Arab banks to finance investment projects in the country,' he added.

Hariri in remarks at an Arab bankers conference in Beirut on Thursday vowed that 'all Lebanese will be able to benefit from the opportunities for prosperity, and this can be achieved by developing our comparative advantages and developing our creative and productive capacities and potential.'

Hariri stressed that Arab banks have a major role to play in financing infrastructure and socioeconomic projects. 'The new challenge facing Arab banks today may be that they succeed in being major partners in economic development,' he added.

Hariri's cabinet is due to work on creating an appropriate environment to enforce the activity of the private sector and preserve high growth rates in addition to ensuring job opportunities for fresh graduates.

The remarks by the premier gave Arab and Lebanese bankers attending the two-day conference confidence that the new Lebanese cabinet would be working on an economic plan to revive the Lebanese economy and encourage investment for the Arab world.

Adnan Youssef, chairman of the board of directors at the Union of Arab Banks, backed Hariri and said: 'It is important to direct Arab investments to the Arab world instead of directing them to foreign markets.'

According to official estimates, Lebanon's public debt is expected to be nearly 50 billion dollars at the end of 2009.

Hariri, whose coalition won a general election on June 7, managed after four months, to form a national unity cabinet that include all rival Lebanese factions, including the Hezbollah-led opposition.