Pledges to aid Lebanese economy

Lebanon says it's been promised aid worth nearly five-hundred million dollars to alleviate foreign debt and growing economic problems.

The Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, made the announcement following talks in Paris with international financial institutions and French leaders. The details of the package -- which is expected to be part loan, part donation -- are to be worked out later. During the meeting, Mr Hariri outlined his government's policies including a plan to privatise state-owned companies, reduce the budget deficit and stimulate foreign investment. Last week, the Lebanese cabinet decided to fire all five-hundred employees of state television in what correspondents said was the first attempt to cut the country's huge bureaucracy. Lebanon's debt is currently estimated at around twenty-five billion dollars and servicing payments account for nearly half the budget for 2001.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service