LEBANON’S new government, whose formation has ended more than a year of political stalemate, will fail to resolve the country’s deep economic crisis, the Lebanese Communist Party warned at the weekend.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged cautious optimism after signing a decree with President Michel Aoun on Friday which appointed a 24-member technical cabinet of non-partisan specialists.

But he said that Lebanon’s people must “tighten their belts” as he revealed that there were no reserves left to maintain subsidies on basic goods such as food, medicine and fuel.