Nidaa al-Watan reported Tuesday that controversy persists over the leaked draft Financial Gap Law, amid claims that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is dissatisfied and has raised reservations.
While the draft is expected to be circulated to ministers ahead of a possible Cabinet vote, political and diplomatic circles cited by the newspaper suggest that Lebanon would be better served by postponing any IMF agreement until after resolving the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, arguing that progress on this front could ease international pressure and soften IMF conditions.
According to Nidaa al-Watan, banking risk expert Mohammad Fahili cautions that the debate is unfolding “on shaky ground,” noting the absence of any official IMF document detailing the alleged remarks. He says the leaks nonetheless expose key points of contention, including how the “guaranteed minimum” for depositors should be calculated, the hierarchy of losses between shareholders and depositors, and demands for audits to trace irregular pre-2019 profits, including financial engineering operations.
The report adds that the core dispute centers on the recapitalization of Central Bank (BDL). Fahili warns that without credible guarantees to restore the central bank’s capital and revenues, it risks remaining “part of the problem rather than part of the solution,” raising broader questions about whether satisfying the IMF could come at the cost of further harming depositors, the banking sector, and the wider economy.
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