Dismantling of the Ministry of Grand Planning and replacing it with the Council of Development and Reconstruction (CDR) – [Law Decree no. 5/1977]

The CDR is a public body tasked with centralizing and managing funds for the postwar reconstruction. It was established during the presence of the Joint Arab Forces that restored security for a short time during the civil war (1975-1990). Upon its inception, it was presented as a way to ease the reconstruction efforts by centralizing aid channels and reconstruction mechanisms and management. It was thus exempted from responding to any regulatory or compliance body of the government, which eased political interferences and the grasping of CDR management and resources. In the postwar period, the CDR played a major role in enacting the neoliberal policies of state’s elites.