Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said Thursday he was stepping down after failing to form a government for nearly nine months.

The development is likely to plunge the country further into chaos and uncertainty. Lebanon is going through an unprecedented economic crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in the world in 150 years.

"It is clear that we will not be able to agree with the president,” Hariri said, after a 20 minute meeting with President Michel Aoun.

Hariri met Wednesday with Aoun after weeks of a stalemate in renewed efforts to resolve the political deadlock and following a quick trip to Cairo, a close ally. He proposed a new 24-minister Cabinet and said he expected a response from Aoun by Thursday. There were reports this was a last-ditch effort by Hariri.

Hariri, 51, resigned from his post in October 2019 in a bow to nationwide protests which had demanded major reforms and condemned the entire political class.

A year later, he was named once again to the post by parliament amid a crippling economic crisis and months after the massive explosion that compounded the country’s woes.