Lebanon announces economic reforms on fifth day of protests

Unrest had been building up in Lebanon over the years

LEBANON-PROTESTS/ Lebanese army soldiers deploy during an anti-government protest in downtown Beirut, Lebanon | Reuters

Street protests in Lebanon continued to day five when the cabinet approved a raft of economic reforms and agreed on the 2020 budget led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Protesters were calling for his government's resignation.

The premier said the measures were not merely an attempt to quell demonstrations.

"These decisions are not designed as a trade-off. They are not to ask you to stop expressing your anger. That is your decision to make," he said.

"Your movement is what led to these decisions that you see today," he added.

In the meantime, in a very touching gesture, when the mother of a toddler who was trapped amongst protesters asked them not to be very loud for the sake of her baby, they broke into a popular kiddie song, 'Baby Shark' to calm him down.

The protests five days ago over tax hikes They have now evolved into an unprecedented push to remove Lebanon's entire political leadership. The government had announced a tax on calls made using WhatsApp and other free online applications to generate income during a fiscal crisis.

There has been a strain on Lebanon's economy. The country's budget has been running on a deficit that equal to 10 per cent of the GDP. Public debt is more than 150 per cent of the GDP. Lebanon's currency has been pegged to the US dollar by the central bank to ensure that the supply of dollars has been enough to pay for the imports on which the country depends. The country's economic growth, however, remains straddled and prevents citizens from having access to basic services.

Hariri said he supported the demonstrators' call for early elections.

"We have heard you. If your demand is early parliamentary elections, it is your voice only that decides. I, Saad Hariri, am with you in this demand."

Lebanon in 2018, held its first parliamentary polls in nine years after the deeply divided legislature repeatedly extended its term. Parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri was elected to a sixth consecutive term and the president renamed Hariri as premier, but he then struggled for more than eight months to form a coalition government.

Unrest had been building up in Lebanon over the years. In 2015, citizens protested due to the government mishandling trash. Trash would be left on the street for months as the government was openly negotiating with a company that picks up the trash for a piece of the next contract. Last week, several forests in the country caught fire and the government had not allocated to funds to firefighters. Due to this, the fires could not be put out efficiently. And then came the Whatsapp tax.