Lebanon’s economic and financial sectors are eagerly awaiting the translation of the outcome of the Cedre Conference - which was held last month in Paris – into effective results.
The international community, meanwhile, is betting on reforms pledged by the government, in particular the reduction of the deficit in the general budget and the implementation of the partnership law between the public and private sectors.
Despite the achievement of Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Paris-hosted conference and promises of $11.5 billion, Lebanese officials do not hide their concern that the outcome of the meeting would be lost if the government failed to implement the required reforms.
In this regard, Minister of State for Planning Michel Pharaon stressed that the economic vision developed by the government must be put into effect, warning against attempts by some political parties to disrupt the reform plans, similar to what happened to the Paris 3 conference.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said: “We urgently need the funds of Cedre and we must meet the desire of the international community to stand with Lebanon and support the security, economic and financial stability.”
However, the minister revealed that the results of the conference would not see any actual translation before 2019, because the international community is waiting for the implementation of reforms, and the execution of the law of partnership between the public and private sectors.
The government is expected to implement the Cedre projects based on a 10-year plan, in order to complete projects worth $11.5 billion over the next five years. It will receive grants and loans of about the same value for the second phase.
Hariri promised to provide 90,000 jobs a year to Lebanese youth by employing them in the upcoming projects.
Economic Expert Dr. Sami Nader underlined the importance of Lebanon’s gain from this conference, but pointed out that the translation of these gains “depends on the ability of the Lebanese government to comply with the reforms and the adoption of new project laws related to infrastructure and partnership between the public and private sectors.”
