The Country Where the Banks Ran Out of Money

The Country Where the Banks Ran Out of Money

After 13 months of foundering under caretaker prime ministers, Lebanon finally has a government.

That is very good news for a country suffering from the effects of economic collapse, political intransigence, financial malfeasance and the interference of foreign powers. And all that on top of the still mysterious port explosion last year that devastated the capital Beirut.

When the announcement came on Sept. 10, it prompted an immediate and significant recovery in the value of the currency, the lira. With a government in place, Lebanon can now access hundreds of millions of dollars in donor pledges, $546 million support from the World Bank and an expected $860 million from the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights allocation.

But all of that will just be a stopgap. There is little in Najib Mikati’s return to power as prime minister or the very familiar makeup of his new cabinet to inspire confidence.

The country’s political leadership, especially the pro-Iranian Shiite militia group Hezbollah, only agreed to form the government because the option of even more procrastination finally ran out. It was the country’s central bank that at long last forced the politicians to rearrange the deck chairs. On Aug. 11, its governor, Riad Salameh, announced the