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A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) began a new mission in Lebanon on Monday to assess the country’s situation and the reforms that its leaders need to implement.
Led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the IMF’s Head of Mission for Lebanon, the delegation met on Wednesday with MPs Ibrahim Kanaan and Georges Adwan, respectively Head of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee and Head of the Administration and Justice Committee.
At the end of the meeting, Kanaan said that the encounter was frank. “We discussed everything, including the central issue of deposits, which everyone is avoiding and to which solutions must be found,” he said.
For his part, Adwan disagreed with the IMF’s approach, which advocates separating the past from the present. “Our approach is to determine responsibilities, return debts and assume losses. It is impossible to look to the future without calling to account and punishing all those who have made mistakes in the past,” continued the LF MP.
The IMF delegation also met with the working team of the economic organizations, chaired by former minister Mohammad Choucair. The organizations subsequently issued a statement in which they expressed their satisfaction at cooperating with the IMF as a “key partner representing the private sector.”
During the meeting, the organizations reiterated their demands, including “the adoption of a fair and reliable financial and economic recovery plan that preserves private property and deposits, based on realistic and objective assumptions that stimulate and boost economic growth.”
It should be noted that on Tuesday, the IMF delegation met with the Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, and the caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati.
Lebanon had requested IMF assistance in 2020 to turn around its economy. On February 11, 2022, the IMF published its roadmap for Lebanon, calling for reforms and repeatedly emphasizing that it would not provide support if the Lebanese government failed to implement reforms. The IMF’s visit to Lebanon comes a month before the 2023 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF, to be held from October 9 to 15 in Marrakech, Morocco.
