Lebanese protests have given way to a debt crisis | Financial Times

Lebanese protests have given way to a debt crisis | Financial Times:

The mass protests that have convulsed Lebanon for seven weeks have come to a temporary pause. There is an opportunity to resolve some of the more urgent problems before the country implodes into a debt, banking and currency crisis. Yet there is no sign that the ruling elites who have looted the country and brought it to the brink of ruin can see this opportunity, let alone use it.

There have been episodic crises since Lebanon emerged from the sectarian carnage of the 1975-90 civil war. Until now, Europe, the US and the Gulf have stepped in: to bolster power-sharing; bail Lebanon out; and support institutions from the central bank to the army.

An international donors conference last year in Paris pledged $11bn in soft loans for urgent infrastructure upgrades, contingent on reforms including fiscal policy. Not a cent has been released.