Lebanese President Says Country Needs ‘6-7 Years’ to Exit Crisis

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun is pictured at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 7, 2021. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Friday the country needs "six to seven years" to emerge from crisis.

Lebanon's economy has been in freefall since 2019, when a mountain of debt and political gridlock drove the nation into its deepest crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

"We need six to seven years to get out of this crisis," Aoun said in a televised interview.