Designated Lebanese PM urges immediate reforms

Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Mustapha Adib called on Monday for the formation of a new government in record time and urged immediate reforms as a step towards securing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The opportunity for our country is small and the mission I have accepted is based on all the political forces acknowledging that,” Adib said in a televised speech after being designated by President Michel Aoun.

Donor states wants Lebanon to carry out long-delayed reforms to stamp out state corruption and waste in order to release financial support. The previous government launched talks with the IMF in May but these stalled amid divisions on the Lebanese side over the scale of losses in the financial system. Adib has been Lebanon's ambassador to Germany since 2013 and his name only emerged on Sunday.

Forming governments in the past has often taken months of political horse trading.The previous government led by Hassan Diab quit on Aug. 10 in the aftermath of a catastrophic explosion at Beirut port that killed some 190 people.With the economy on its knees, a swathe of Beirut in tatters and sectarian tensions rising, the former French protectorate faces the biggest threat to stability since a 1975-90 civil war.