Salim Hoss Designated as Lebanon Prime Minister
December 3, 1998 - 0:0
BEIRUT Soft-spoken veteran politician Salim Hoss was named by President Emile Lahoud as Lebanon's new prime minister on Wednesday and vowed to make reviving the economy his top priority. Hoss, 68, was named as head of Lahoud's first government in a presidential decree after outgoing billionaire Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's shock refusal on Monday of an invitation to stay on as premier.
Undoubtedly, we consider the budget deficit to be the focus of our attention because it is the cause behind many of the ills suffered by the national economy, Hoss told reporters after his appointment. It is the cause of soaring interest rates and the slow economic activity linked to investment, said Hoss, who has headed four governments since 1976, a year after Lebanon's 15-year civil war broke out.
Lebanon has been burdened by a budget deficit equal to 22 percent of gross national product and 17.5 billion dollars in public debt since the launch by Hariri of an ambitious 18-billion-dollar post-civil war rebuilding process. We will adopt an extremely austere policy in drafting the 1999 state budget and we will even be austere in the implementation of rebuilding projects, pledged Hoss, a bespectacled Sunni Muslim with a reputation for integrity.
(AFP)
Undoubtedly, we consider the budget deficit to be the focus of our attention because it is the cause behind many of the ills suffered by the national economy, Hoss told reporters after his appointment. It is the cause of soaring interest rates and the slow economic activity linked to investment, said Hoss, who has headed four governments since 1976, a year after Lebanon's 15-year civil war broke out.
Lebanon has been burdened by a budget deficit equal to 22 percent of gross national product and 17.5 billion dollars in public debt since the launch by Hariri of an ambitious 18-billion-dollar post-civil war rebuilding process. We will adopt an extremely austere policy in drafting the 1999 state budget and we will even be austere in the implementation of rebuilding projects, pledged Hoss, a bespectacled Sunni Muslim with a reputation for integrity.
(AFP)