Xinhua, Beirut :
Lebanon’s economy needs the quick intervention of the international community to prevent its collapse, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Tuesday following a meeting with the World Bank president, the independent Naharnet news website reported.
“Lebanon suffered from a drop in economic activity in all sectors after the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011. We are not able to carry the burden of the refugees alone,” Salam said during a joint press conference with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
“Lebanon will not be the country we know today if we don’t confront the crisis,” he added.
The meeting comes after Lebanon has repeatedly called on international organizations and institutions to support the country, as a constant stream of refugees from Syria continue to flow through its borders, causing a huge strain on the country’s already precarious resources.
“(The meeting) comes at a difficult stage for Lebanon … It is impossible to bring back the economic situation to where it was before the Syrian conflict,” Salem said.
The prime minister thanked the countries that had provided assistance to Lebanon, but he appealed for more international support to “avoid a crisis that could spread to the region.”
Kim, who arrived in Beirut on Monday for a two-day visit, urged the international community to support Lebanon and asked donor countries to contribute to the fund that was established to help Lebanon confront the refugee crisis.
The International Support Group for Lebanon was established in New York last September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with a mission to mobilize support for Lebanon to strengthen its armed forces and to assist the country as it faces the aftereffects of the Syrian crisis.
A World Bank report estimated that the direct losses incurred by Lebanon due to the Syrian crisis stood at around 7.5 billion U. S. dollars.
