Lebanese deputy prime minister Saadeh Al-Shami has said that during his meetings last week with World Bank and IMF officials, he gathered that any help to pull the country out of its difficult economic situation is conditional on implementing agreed upon reforms.
A statement by his media office, local media reports said, indicated that Al-Shami held extensive meetings with the various departments of the International Monetary Fund directly concerned with the agreement between Lebanon and the Fund.
“During the meetings, the stakeholders showed great response and readiness to provide all required assistance at the technical level in order to reach a final agreement between Lebanon and the IMF,” the statement added.
IMF director Kristalina Georgieva showed great interest in the Lebanese situation and her willingness to help Lebanon out of its severe crisis during her meeting with Al-Shami, the statement added.
Georgieva emphasized that the implementation of reforms in the required time is a very necessary matter, so that the international community can help Lebanon.
Minister Al-Shami also held meetings with the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieddine, the Executive Director of the World Bank, Dr. Mirza Hassan, and the Vice President of the World Bank for the Middle East, Farid Belhaj.
Talks focused on the issue of the loan allocated to extracting gas from Egypt and the World Bank’s program to support the general budget, which is initially associated with the final agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
The Deputy Prime Minister also met with officials in the US Treasury and the US State Department to explain the objectives of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund and to request assistance regarding extracting gas from Egypt and the need to give the required guarantee as well as assistance from the international community to bridge the financing gap.
In this context, he also held a meeting with the European Union Commissioner for the Middle East to explore the possibility of financial assistance, as well as with the Director of the French Treasury, Emmanuel Moulin, who expressed a serious willingness to help Lebanon mobilize the necessary funding to bridge the financial gap for the next four years.
The statement said that from his meetings Al-Shami confirmed that any assistance will be conditional on the initiation of the implementation of the prior procedures agreed upon with the IMF and the approval of the Parliament Council on some laws, most importantly the 2022 budget law, the Capital Control Law and the required amendments to the Banking Secrecy Law, as well as the Banking Restructuring Law, which the government seeks to refer to Parliament before the upcoming elections.
“The failure to implement these reforms will have negative repercussions on the current situation,” he said.