BEIRUT, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — Lebanese officials and experts refused Friday that the country’s economy is collapsing. “We cannot say that the Lebanese economy is deteriorating and our duty is to adopt reforms that were endorsed in the 2018 budget,” Ibrahim Kanaan, Head of Parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee, was quoted by the National News Agency. Lebanon’s Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said financial and monetary situation in Lebanon is normal. Kanaan and Khalil’s remarks came after their meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday to discuss the economic situation in the country.

Meanwhile, economist Louis Hobeika told local news agency Al Markazia that economic and social situation in Lebanon is not in a deteriorating stage. “Lebanon is surely going through a difficult period due to the delay in government formation while the purchasing power of citizens have dropped remarkably but we cannot say that the economy is deteriorating,” he said. The government must be formed in a bid to adopt necessary reforms which will have a positive impact on people’s lives, according to Hobeika. Lebanon’s Prime Minister-Designate Saad Hariri has been facing various hurdles to form a 30-member national unity government over the representations of the main Christian parties, the Druze sect and the Sunni representations from outside Hariri’s Future Movement. Economic bodies in the country voiced their concerns about possible economic deterioration due to the delay in cabinet formation.