The Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister, Saadeh Al-Shami, stated that "it was agreed between the IMF team and the Lebanese negotiating team, on the need for macroeconomic reforms that include fiscal reform in the medium term, financial sector reform, and exchange rate unification, as well as structural reforms including those related to poverty alleviation, governance and electricity.”
The International Monetary Fund announced the need for some required legislation before submitting the program to the Fund's Board of Directors for final approval. The two parties agreed that any delay in carrying out the necessary reforms and legislation would raise the cost of economic correction in the future.
It is expected that a full delegation from the Fund will visit Lebanon in the second half of March to continue discussions aimed at reaching an agreement on a program with the Fund. After a small team from the IMF visited Beirut, where the team held talks with members of the committee in charge of negotiations with the fund headed by Saadeh Al-Shami, and met with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati. The purpose of the visit was to assess the work done so far and to identify the next steps to be taken to reach an agreement on a program with the International Monetary Fund.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
