BEIRUT, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Thursday that strict reforms will be taken to save Lebanon from serious financial trouble, local TV channel MTV reported.
"The country's public debt is increasing in a rapid manner while economic growth is very low," Khalil said in a televised interview.
According to the finance minister, the Lebanese government has started to take measures against corruption and to cut unnecessary expenditures.
"But what we really need is an independent and honest judicial system to be able to hold corrupted people accountable," he noted.
Lebanon's public debt reached 82.95 billion U.S. dollars at the end of June in 2018, up 8.5 percent from a year ago, according to Byblos Bank's weekly economic publication.
