Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday warned against deducting from citizens’ bank deposits, as he said that the government should take a host of measures before thinking of paying Lebanon’s foreign debt.

“Touching people’s bank deposits is unacceptable and the Strong Republic bloc is totally against it,” Geagea said after a meeting for the bloc.

Baby milk has been added to the list of essential imports subsidized by Lebanon’s central bank, Health Minister Hamad Hasan announced on Friday.

“An agreement has been reached with Lebanon’s central bank (Banque du Liban) on adding infant formula to the list of items subsidized by the bank,” Hasan said in a statement issued by his office.

Dozens of Palestinians rallied Friday in the crowded Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp after Friday prayers, carrying Palestinian flags and pictures of the al-Aqsa mosque, in protest at U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East initiative.

They chanted "We would die for Palestine to live" and "Revolution until we set Palestine free".

Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday noted that economic and financial solutions are “not difficult” to achieve, during a meeting with a delegation from Economic Committees.

“The meeting coincides with the meetings of the panel drafting the ministerial Policy Statement, so that the Committees can be a partner in this drafting,” Diab told the delegation, which was led by ex-telecom minister Mohammed Choucair.”

Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni held talks with Head of the Association of Banks in Lebanon Salim Sfeir who assured that bank deposits are safe and there are no plans to impose haircut on deposits.

The upper part of an old building collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, resulting in no injuries, the National News Agency said on Friday.

Two workshops will be held at the Grand Serail on Friday the first related to the economic situation and national industry, the second to the judicial situation and monitoring bodies in a bid to provide the needed mechanisms to enhance the fight against corruption, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

The governor of Lebanon's central bank said that $1 billion had been transferred out of the country, despite tight restrictions on withdrawals as the protest-hit country faces a liquidity crisis.

The Chinese ambassador to Lebanon assured during a meeting with PM Hassan Diab on Thursday that no cases of the deadly coronavirus were recorded among Lebanese nationals in China, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

“I have assured the PM that so far there are no cases of the virus among the Chinese community in Lebanon or among Lebanese nationals in China,” said Wang Kajian, the Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon.

Crisis-hit Lebanon received on Thursday a shipment of new banknotes received by the central bank, the National News Agency said.