An International Monetary Fund delegation visited Lebanon, including a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa on Friday.
The visit comes as Lebanon seeks to advance financial restructuring measures required for an IMF-backed program.
Since the U.S. has significant leverage within the IMF, Ambassador Issa’s presence to discuss economic transparency and promote investment demonstrates the commitment Lebanon is making towards achieving adequate reforms for the IMF.
The IMF said in a statement that “the mission had constructive discussions with the Lebanese authorities on legislation underpinning their bank restructuring strategy and the emerging medium-term fiscal framework.”
Lebanon’s cabinet approved a draft law on Financial Stabilization and Depositor Recovery (FSDR) that the IMF stated is an important first step, but needed to be improved to meet international standards to ensure that ordinary depositors do not absorb losses before bankers do. They also encouraged transparency in Lebanon through supporting reforms to the Bank Resolution law (BRL).
As Lebanon pursues measures to carry out fiscal reforms to address its financial crisis, the IMF supports the country adopting medium-term fiscal frameworks to restructure their financial institutions and streamline social and infrastructure spending, to strategically strengthen state institutions. The organization also supported tax reforms to generate more income for the Lebanese state.
Top Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, expressed that the meetings with the IMF went positively while acknowledging that continued reforms are still needed to secure an agreement
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