Lebanon PM pledges to stem devaluation, reduce food prices

Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab pledged Thursday to stem devaluation and introduce subsidies on food imports, as his cabinet marked 100 days since it was formed to salvage a free-falling economy.

Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, now compounded by more than two months of a coronavirus lockdown. The local currency has lost more than half its value on the black market in recent months, from the official rate of 1,507 to more than 4,000 pounds to the dollar.

Poverty has soared to 45 percent of the population, and inflation is over 50 percent, according to official estimates.

"I have been given a promise from the governor of the central bank that the central bank will intervene in the market as of today to protect the Lebanese pound and to curb the high dollar exchange rate," Diab said in a speech to mark 100 days since parliament approved his cabinet.

The central bank last month ordered exchange offices to cap the rate at 3,200 to the dollar, but the pound has continued to tumble.