The IMF Communications Department revealed during a recent press briefing that although there is no timeline for concluding the discussions with the Lebanese government, it expects said discussions to be “lengthy” due to complexity of some issues yet labeled the discussions as being “constructive”. As far as the discrepancy in the size of the losses between the government’s numbers and those of the Central Bank, the IMF commented that after holding several technical meetings to better understand said numbers, it believes that the government’s figures are “broadly in the right order of magnitude”, yet added that further work is needed to hone said figures. On the corruption front, the IMF commented that improving transparency and accountability of public entities and economic policies is vital to restoring confidence and reforming poorly performing public sector institutions. Finally, the IMF commented that it is in discussion with the authorities on ways to shield the poor and middle class from assuming the burden of the economic reform plan.

In this context, it is worth highlighting that 12 meetings have so far been held between the IMF and the Lebanese delegation which includes the Lebanese Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Lebanese Central Bank. Said meetings mainly discussed the economic reform plan and the nature of the financing relationship between the Central Bank and the MOF on the one hand, and between the MOF and public institutions on the other.