BEIRUT: Influential parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that Lebanon would sink like the Titanic if it could not form a government.

“We will all sink, with no exceptions,” MTV television quoted him as saying at the opening of a session of parliament.

Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and President Michel Aoun have been at loggerheads over a new cabinet for months, dashing hopes of a reversal of Lebanon’s deepening financial meltdown.

The assembly was due to discuss a $200 million emergency fund to pay for fuel for Lebanon’s electricity company.

The energy ministry has said there are no funds to pay for imports beyond March.

The Zahrani power plant, one of Lebanon’s four main electricity producers, has shut down after its fuel ran out.