Qatar said on Monday (January 21st) it will purchase $500 million of government bonds in debt-ridden Lebanon a day after the country's emir visited Beirut to attend the Arab economic summit, AFP reported.
"The state of Qatar will buy Lebanese government bonds valued at $500 million," Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in a statement carried by the Qatar News Agency.
The purchase would "strengthen the Lebanese economy", and the decision was taken after a meeting on Monday between Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Lebanese President Michel Aoun, he said.
"We wish stability and prosperity for the Lebanese republic and the Lebanese people, and that the Lebanese economy will recover."
The move comes amid huge financial strains for the Lebanese government.
Lebanon's economy has looked on the brink of collapse for some time but a Paris conference dubbed CEDRE in April made aid pledges worth $11 billion.
But France last month warned that Beirut could lose those pledges if it continued to be without a government almost eight months after general elections because of political disputes.
