Traveling to Lebanon, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani reportedly announced that his country will provide food aid to the Lebanese Army to the tune of 70 tons of food per month, says the official Qatar press agency .
He also called on the Lebanese authorities to form a new government as quickly as possible to stabilize the situation.
Qatar is reportedly taking part in the aid conference for Lebanon which took place in France last month. As a reminder, the salary of a soldier, which was 1.3 million pounds per month, or the equivalent of 894 USD 2 years ago, now only represents 80 USD, a sum largely insufficient to cover basic needs. This deterioration was mainly induced by the deterioration in the value of the local currency, which would have lost 90% of its value against the greenback. The situation is further aggravated by the shortages – in particular of essential products such as fuel, medicines and food products – which now affect the Lebanese population.
Thus, nearly 77% of the population would no longer have enough to eat and 33% of children would sleep hungry, said the authors of a UNICEF report. 43% of the active population is unemployed
For the time being, the international community is reluctant to grant any economic aid as long as the Lebanese authorities do not carry out the reforms deemed essential to put an end to the widespread corruption of institutions and would require an audit of the accounts of the Bank of Lebanon. However, a new government is a prerequisite, with the outgoing government having resigned since August 10, 2020.
