Miqati: Economic, Social Affairs Must Be Kept Away from Political Divide

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati noted on Monday that Lebanon's economy is suffering as a result of the poor political and security situation in the Arab world, especially the crisis in Syria.

He said: “Solutions to economic and social affairs should be kept away from Lebanon's political divide.”

He made remarks his during a meeting with a delegation from the Economic Committees.

Addressing the gatherers, Miqati said: “We are a united team that is working for the sake of the country and the people. It is necessary for us to cooperate and adopt policies, which enjoy firm national consensus, to resolve the case of the flow of Syrian refugees into Lebanon.”

All resources should be provided in order to tackle this issue and the negative repercussions it is having on Lebanon, he continued.

He revealed that Lebanon is cooperating with the United Nations in helping set up camps for the refugees within Syrian territories and that new measures will be taken along the border with Syria to control the flow.

“Lebanon's stability and economy are at an acceptable level despite the developments in the region. I have no fears over the economy,” Miqati stressed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently announced that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has surpassed 816,000.

Based on current trends, 1.3 million Syrian refugees could be in Lebanon by the end of this year.

The World Bank estimates that the total costs of spillover will shave close to 3 percentage points off gross domestic product growth per year between 2012 and 2014. Unemployment will double to more than 20 percent and about 170,000 additional Lebanese will be plunged into poverty on top of some 1 million currently living below the poverty line.