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Lebanon's president launched talks on Monday with lawmakers to designate a new premier who will make the third attempt within a year to form a government amid deepening political and economic turmoil.

The country has been without a fully functioning government since then-prime ­minister Hassan Diab resigned in the wake of the Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people in August.

Despite an economic and financial crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the world's worst in more than 150 years, political squabbling has repeatedly thwarted progress, with two designated premiers failing to form a cabinet since then. Diab has stayed on in a caretaker capacity.

On Monday, consultations between President Michel Aoun and parliamentary blocs aim to find a replacement for Saad Hariri, who quit as PM-designate on July 15, after nine months of political horse-­trading failed to produce a new cabinet. 

Talks started in the presidential palace at 10:30 am, with a final pick expected to be announced by the end of the day, said the official National News Agency.

According to local media reports, billionaire businessman and two-time premier Najib Mikati, 65, is the most likely choice.

Hariri and his Future Movement party on Friday endorsed Mikati as their pick, as did the powerful Shiite Hezbollah movement. 

If selected, Mikati will be expected to deliver a lineup that satisfies political leaders jostling for cabinet shares and ministerial portfolios.