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Morning Brief

New PM-designate, lira gains, bread price falls slightly: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Here’s what happened yesterday and what to expect today, Tuesday, July 27

New PM-designate, lira gains, bread price falls slightly: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Newly designated Premier Najib Mikati meets with outgoing Premier Hassan Diab on July 26. (Credit: Dalati & Nohra)

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Najib Mikati, a billionaire, former premier and current MP, was designated yesterday to form Lebanon’s next government. Mikati is the third politician to be tasked with forming a new government since Hassan Diab’s cabinet resigned in the wake of the Aug. 4 explosion. Mikati will now need to contend with President Michel Aoun, with whom Mikati’s two predecessors, the diplomat Mustapha Adib and former Premier Saad Hariri, failed to agree on a cabinet lineup. Lebanon has been without a government for 351 days. If a government is not formed by Aug. 8, it will be the longest period without a government in Lebanon’s history as an independent state. Mikati will meet with the various parliamentary blocs later this morning and this afternoon to consult with them on the government’s formation.

The lira’s value rose by as much as 45 percent from its recent low point in the wake of Saad Hariri’s resignation as prime minister–designate 12 days ago. Hopes that Mikati’s designation will lead to a breakthrough in Lebanon’s protracted political stalemate are likely responsible for the gains, two exchangers and a financial expert told L’Orient Today. The gains may prove temporary if Mikati does not make fast progress on the cabinet’s formation. “A big move like this is not justified unless you have a government in place,” the financial expert Saeb el Zein told L’Orient Today.

The Economy Ministry has lowered the price of bread. Large bread bundles can now be purchased from bakeries for LL3,750, an 18 percent per-gram price decrease, and small bundles for LL2,250, a 16 percent decrease. The cost of bread, as of many food products, has been on the rise amid Lebanon’s economic crisis. A July 21 report from the AUB Crisis Observatory estimated that the prices of basic food commodities had increased more than 50 percent since the beginning of the month. The last time the ministry lowered the price of bread was in May.

Lebanon asked the United Nations to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the country. The UN has maintained the mission, UNIFIL, in the country since Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon in 1978. UNIFIL’s present mandate is set to expire on Aug. 31. In a meeting with the UN undersecretary-general for peace operations, President Aoun reiterated his condemnation of Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace. From Feb. 20 to June 18, UNIFIL recorded 260 Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, totaling more than 412 hours of flight time over Lebanon. 

Want to get the Morning Brief by email. Click here to sign up.Najib Mikati, a billionaire, former premier and current MP, was designated yesterday to form Lebanon’s next government. Mikati is the third politician to be tasked with forming a new government since Hassan Diab’s cabinet resigned in the wake of the Aug. 4 explosion. Mikati will now need to contend with President Michel Aoun, with...