Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi on Friday expressed optimism over Lebanon's economic prospects, urging solidarity and national unity in order to avert hardships.

Following his meeting with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace, the patriarch said that austerity does not mean depriving people of their rights, stressing that it rather requires the control of squandering and the rationalization of the State's expenditures.

Al-Rahi renewed his call for the return of Syrian refugees to their country, reiterating that Lebanon can no longer endure the economic and social burden that their presence is entailing.