President Michel Aoun warned against spreading negativity over the country’s economic situation and disseminating harmful rumors. “The Lebanese pound is not in danger and Lebanon is not on the road to bankruptcy,” he said on Wednesday during a meeting at the Baabda Palace with a delegation of the Lions clubs, headed by Governor of the Region 351, which includes Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq. The delegation visited the Baabda Palace to thank Aoun for patronizing the hand-over ceremony held recently, and to brief him on the Lions humanitarian activities and programs scheduled for 2018. Addressing the delegation, the president said he hoped that the overall situation in Lebanon and the Arab countries would improve significantly, and peace would prevail. “We in the Arab world are all living martyrs. Shrapnel of wars in the region has spread across Lebanon through terrorism and sleeping cells. We thank God that we have been able to establish internal security and fortify our borders. We are now at the point of addressing economic security after we were afflicted with many economic burdens. Rumors that the economic situation is on the brink of the abyss are not only false but also abhorrent,” Aoun stressed. He noted that some political parties were working on spreading rumors “to derail the reform process that we have initiated.” “We do not deny that there is a crisis, but we are dealing with it through the adoption of the state budget, which has not happened for nearly 11 years, as well as through the economic plan that we have set and through the CEDRE Conference,” the president said.