Head of the Kataeb’s Economic and Social Council Jean Tawile on Monday stressed that Ukraine’s invasion will have an impact on the world’s economy including Lebanon, saying that prices will soar as the country imports its raw materials and oil from Ukraine and Russia.

“Lebanon will face potentially serious economic impacts as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine more than other countries as they have economic and monetary policies to control the inflation. However, Lebanon cannot control the escalation of world prices,” Tawile said in an interview with Tele Liban channel.

“Talks with the International Monetary Fund are progressing but this differs from reaching a result as the ruling authority has called for the postponement of the required legislation and reforms after the elections. This explains the goal of the political and financial authorities to create stability and a positive atmosphere,” he added.

 

Tawile stressed that the implementation of reforms requires the adoption of law on all the people by activating electronic bills, suspending customs evasion, and applying banking secrecy.

 

“All the required reforms aim to strengthen the Lebanese state in a bid to have modern laws and institutions that adopt laws for the interest of the Lebanese and provide them with services,” he said.

 

He also slammed the ruling elite for its failure in addressing the acute economic crisis, saying that it is using all the State’s institutions for its own interests and to control the Lebanese citizens.

 

“What we are experiencing today is the result of the approach adopted by this dreadful authority and the Free Patriotic Movement is one of the pillars of the system which has failed to address the problem of electricity and today we have to hold it accountable,” he affirmed.

 

“The political class is exerting pressure on the Central Bank so as to control the monetary situation before May legilastive elections. It is also holding talks with the IMF to prove that it is able to control and provide monetary stability,” he noted.

 

Tawile deemed the stability of the Lebanese pound as temporary, saying that the Central Bank is using the rest of people’s deposits to stabilize it.

 

“The Central Bank should develop a vision in a bid to control the escalation of prices,” he added.

“This political authority is developing the parallel economy and does not take any measure to control it. The approach that lead us to collapse is the same as the one adopted by the ruling authority today. It is only printing currencies at a time when there is a shortage in dollars,” he pointed out.

“We want to break free from this control through the upcoming elections and we have to work for our country and create oversight tools to improve governance. We should unite our efforts and visions to rebuild the state of law and the institutions that provide the Lebanese people with their basic needs," he concluded.