On Friday, France announced hosting an aid conference on the first anniversary of Lebanon’s port blast after premier-designate Saad Hariri abandoned bid to form government.
Hariri's departure on Thursday leaves the country in misery as Lebanon faces soaring poverty, a plummeting currency, renewed street protests as well as shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel.
In this sense, Health Minister Hamad Hassan said Friday the government would scrap subsidies on medicines costing less than 12,000 Lebanese pounds ($8 at the official rate) to shore up foreign currency reserves.
"Lebanon, towards more danger," read a headline on the front page of the country's Annahar newspaper on Friday.
"With Hariri out, a worsening crisis is inevitable," Lebanon's French-language daily L'Orient-Le Jour said.
In the same vein, former colonial power France, which has spearheaded international efforts to lift Lebanon out of crisis, affirmed on Friday it would host an aid conference on August 4.
The conference, organised with the United Nations, aims to "respond to the needs of the Lebanese, whose situation is deteriorating every day," France's foreign ministry revealed in a statement.
World powers have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid since last year's port blast, but made the money conditional on installing a government capable of tackling corruption.
Even as international pressure mounted, with the European Union threatening sanctions against Lebanese leaders, political squabbling has repeatedly stymied efforts to form a government.
The French foreign ministry mentioned that Hariri's failure to form a government "confirms the political deadlock which Lebanese leaders have deliberately continued for months, even as Lebanon sinks into unprecedented economic and social crisis."
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