JABAR EKSPRES – Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday (13/6) that his government would not be able to pay civil servants’ salaries by the end of June 2023.
“The government will not be able to pay salaries if parliament does not approve additional allocations for wages,” Mikati said in a statement after a cabinet meeting.
A total of 46 members in the 128-seat House of Representatives refused to convene the assembly amid the failure of presidential elections since the end of Michel Aoun’s term.
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Under the law, the president is the only one who has the authority to request the convening of a parliamentary session.
Lebanon has been unable to elect Aoun’s successor amid differences among political rivals.
In April the government approved a decision to raise public sector salaries, in addition to increasing transportation allowances for employees.
The value of the Lebanese currency against the dollar slumped from 1,506 liras at the end of 2019 to around 95,000 liras during the year.
Lebanon’s annual inflation rate skyrocketed to 269 percent in April, the highest in the world, according to the World Bank.
Lebanon has faced a crippling economic crisis since 2019, which the World Bank says is one of the worst in modern times.