Lebanon's Finance Minister: Country Must Ration Subsidies Before Reserves Run Out

WASHINGTON - Lebanon's caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said Friday that the country would run out of money to fund basic imports by the end of May.

Wazni also said that delays in launching a plan to reduce the subsidies paid to hundreds of thousands of poor people were costing the country $500 million a month. "The government must speed this up. The cost of wasting time is very high. With every delay, it becomes higher," Wazni said. Wazni’s announcement came after Lebanon's Parliament on Monday approved a $200 million loan to pay for fuel for the country's electricity company. The move was prompted by a warning from the energy ministry that money had run out for electricity generation beyond the end of the month.