BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s president appointed a little-known professor and former education minister to form a new government as prime minister on Thursday in the midst of street protests and a financial crisis that have left the country reeling.

The appointee, Hassan Diab, vowed to swiftly form a new government to “focus on stopping the collapse and restoring confidence.”

But he faces an uphill battle on multiple fronts.

Since October, protesters across the country have taken over city squares and blocked main roads in anger over years of corruption and poor governance. That has exacerbated a long-building financial crisis in Lebanon, one of the world’s most indebted countries.

Lebanon has been overseen by a caretaker government since Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in the face of mass protests on Oct. 29.