LEBANESE businessman Najib Mikati is set to become the country’s next prime minister-designate after he received the backing of a majority of MPs today.

He has been tasked with forming a new administration, with a caretaker government having run Lebanon since the entire cabinet resigned in the wake of the Beirut port explosion last August.

Mr Mikati, who has been PM twice before, was nominated by Hezbollah during today’s consultations and gained support from most parliamentary blocs.

“Today, with signs that hint at the possibility of forming a government … that’s why we named Mikati, to give an extra boost to facilitate forming a government,” said Muhammad Raad, Hezbollah’s parliamentary leader.

Mr Mikati was also endorsed by his predecessor Saad Hariri, who resigned earlier this month after failing to agree on a new administration.

Under Lebanon’s confessional political system, the post of prime minister must be held by a Sunni Muslim and the presidency by a Maronite Christian, while the speaker must be a Shi’ite Muslim.

The country faces a deep economic crisis in which the value of its currency has fallen by 90 per cent since the beginning of last year.