Lebanon makes $3 billion bail-out deal with the International Monetary Fund following bankruptcy

Today, Thursday 7, April The International Monetary Fund  (IMF) announced that it has made an agreement with Lebanon to provide a $3 billion financial programme over a 46 month period to help it overcome its current economic collapse. 

Mr. Ernesto Ramirez Rigo , who led an IMF mission to Lebanon, announced in an official statement emitted by the IMF: “The Lebanese authorities and the IMF team have reached a staff-level agreement on comprehensive economic policies that could be supported by a 46-month Extended Fund Arrangement (EFF) with requested access of SDR 2,173.9 million (equivalent to about US$3 billion). This agreement is subject to approval by IMF management and the Executive Board, after the timely implementation of all prior actions and confirmation of international partners’ financial support.” 

“The authorities recognize the urgent need to initiate a multi-pronged reform program to tackle these challenges, bring back confidence and put the economy back on a sustainable growth path, with stronger private sector activity and job creation. In this regard, their plan is based on five key pillars:

• Restructuring the financial sector to restore banks’ viability and their ability to efficiently allocate resources to support the recovery;

• Implementing fiscal reforms that coupled with the proposed restructuring of external public debt will ensure debt sustainability and create space to invest in social spending, reconstruction and infrastructure;

• Reforming state-owned enterprises, particularly in the energy sector, to provide quality services without draining public resources;

• Strengthening governance, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks to enhance transparency and accountability, including by modernizing the central bank legal framework and governance and accountability arrangements;
•  Establishing a credible and transparent monetary and exchange rate system .

Rigo went on to state that the Lebanese government have agreed to conform and collaborate with all of the measures and conditions established by the IMF, finalising his statement by expressing the IMF’S gratitude to the Lebanese government:

“The IMF team is grateful to the Lebanese authorities and several civil society and private sector groups for the open and constructive discussions and their hospitality.”

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