Beirut (Al-Ittihad, agencies)
The Lebanese authorities announced the closure of 37 consulates and embassies in African, Asian and Latin American countries as a result of the financial crisis that the country is suffering from.
Lebanese media reported that the financial crisis ravaging the country has tightened its grip on diplomatic missions, as it was decided to close 37 consulates and embassies, cancel allocations, and reduce the number and salaries of their employees.
The media pointed out that the most severe damage to the state’s infrastructure resulted from the collapse that struck the judicial and diplomatic bodies.
If the first resorted to a strike and the judges refrained from coming to the country’s palaces of justice until some demands were met, the second witnessed, in a precedent the likes of which Lebanon has never witnessed, the Foreign Ministry closing 37 consulates and embassies, out of 89, in African, Asian and Latin American countries as a result. Scarcity of funds.
It stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked to lay off 50% of employees and workers in embassies and the remaining consulates, and reduced the number of diplomats accredited in major countries and decision-making centers in which the Lebanese communities took over for a time to pay their rent and provide financial assistance to their diplomats by half, and kept two of the 4 .
It was revealed that the Foreign Ministry stopped sending allowances and salaries to ambassadors, which caused great confusion in the diplomatic body, which is now threatened with collapse after a large portion of accredited diplomats expressed a desire to resign and join another job.
Informed sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed, according to the Lebanese media, that in recent years, due to the financial crisis, the salaries of ambassadors accredited to foreign missions have been reduced by half and all additional appropriations have been cancelled, pointing out that some of those who were laid off from their services refuse to return to the administration as a result of the difference in the prices of… His salary in Lebanon does not exceed $300, while what he receives abroad amounts to thousands of dollars.
Since September 2022, the Lebanese Parliament has failed in 12 sessions to elect a new president for the country to succeed Michel Aoun, whose term ended on October 31, 2022.
In addition to the political crisis, Lebanon has been afflicted by a severe economic crisis since 2019 that led to a financial collapse and deterioration of living conditions, while the government seeks to conclude an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to reach a debt program and stop the collapse.
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