- Title: High hopes as Lebanon PM seeks UAE cash for ailing economy
- Date: 7th October 2019
- Summary: ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) CONFERENCE ROOM / SPEAKER BEING INTRODUCED LOGO FOR UAE-LEBANON INVESTMENT CONFERENCE ON SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER, SAAD AL-HARIRI, SAYING: "We can't do that (invest) without the private sector, and this is why we're here in the UAE, so we can solidify this public-private sector partnership between Lebanon and the UAE. This process must be reciprocal, meaning that the Lebanese must invest in the UAE and hope that Emiratis can invest in electricity, gas, communications, and all the sectors available in 'Cedre' (conference to strengthen Lebanese economy held in France)." CONFERENCE ROOM / UAE ECONOMY MINISTER, SULTAN BIN SAEED AL-MANSOURI ON PODIUM ATTENDEES IN CONFERENCE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UAE ECONOMY MINISTER, SULTAN BIN SAEED AL-MANSOURI, SAYING: "Brothers and sisters, we are now in front of an energetic environment of economic cooperation, however we still have more opportunities that we can develop our mutual economic cooperation and thus we look forward to increasing our economic and trade activity between the UAE and Lebanon in the upcoming period, and in order to achieve this we must continue to discuss and cooperate in order to ensure a bigger role for investment and the private sector in the two countries." AL-MANSOURI LEAVING STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR, RIAD SALAMEH, SAYING: "First of all, we thank the UAE for hosting us, and of course the Lebanese people are relying on the Emirates' support, and we hope this [conference] will give a positive sign." CONFERENCE ROOM
- Embargoed: 21st October 2019 14:01
- Keywords: Lebanon economy UAE Abu Dhabi
- Location: ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
- City: ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
- Country: UAE
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B03MFT9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Lebanon is seeking investments from the United Arab Emirates to help support its ailing economy, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Monday (October 7) during a visit to Abu Dhabi, while one of his advisors told Reuters the mood was "positive".
Hariri's government has vowed to implement long-delayed reforms to ward off an economic crisis as Lebanon struggles with one of the world's highest debt burdens, low growth and crumbling infrastructure.
Addressing an investment conference in the Emirati capital, Hariri said he sought investments in food, infrastructure, oil and gas, and renewable energy.
Lebanon is preparing to sell a Eurobond of around $2 billion this month, with cash raised earmarked for refinancing maturing debts and shoring up shaky public finances.
The country's traditionally high reserves of foreign currency have been in decline because capital inflows into its banking system from Lebanese abroad have been slowing.
Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Lebanon to CCC in August, citing debt servicing concerns. At the same time, S&P Global affirmed Lebanon at B-/B with a negative outlook, saying it considered foreign exchange reserves sufficient to service government debt in the "near term".
(Production: Abdelhadi Ramahi, Tarek Fahmy) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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