BEIRUT, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Powerful Lebanese groups Hezbollah and Amal on Saturday announced plans to end their boycott of government meetings, paving the way for ministers’ meetings to resume after a three-month hiatus during which the economic crisis worsened and the currency depreciated even more.
The two groups, which support multiple ministers in a government made up of members representing the country’s entire political and community spectrum, added that their decision was motivated by a desire to approve the 2022 budget and discuss ways to revive the economy.
At the origin of the boycott, tensions around the investigation into the huge explosion that hit the port of Beirut in 2020. Hezbollah, supported by Iran, and its Shia Muslim allies accused the judge of bias of instruction in charge of investigations.
The government’s inability to meet has delayed discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a recovery plan deemed vital to unlock the international aid the country needs to avoid bankruptcy and lift large sections of its population out of poverty.
An IMF spokesman told Reuters that virtual talks would be held with the Lebanese authorities in the last week of January. (Timour Azhari, Gilles Guillaume for the French version)