An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission headed by Mr. Ernesto Rigo recently concluded a 3-day visit to Lebanon where it assessed the progress on the implementation of the reforms/actions highlighted in the Service Level Agreement that was signed in April. Following the end of the mission, Mr. Rigo commented that the Lebanese economy remains in a dire state, with GDP contracting by 40% since 2018, inflation hovering in three-digit territory, foreign currency reserves drying up and the LBP exchange rate depreciating against the US Dollar to exceed the LBP 38,000 per USD threshold. Mr. Rigo added that the low revenue streams have adversely impacted spending, leading to the malfunctioning of public institutions and basic services provided to citizens. Always in this regard, Mr. Rigo lamented the slow progress in reform implementation notwithstanding the aforementioned factors. In details, Mr. Rigo mentioned that the 2022 budget is yet to be ratified by the parliament  (at the time of the statement), and that at this stage it would be better to shift the focus towards preparing a realistic 2023 budget that would pivot on tangible macroeconomic assumptions. Said assumptions include improving revenues by adopting a realistic exchange rate (such as the Sayrafa rate for instance) for calculating taxes, while on the other hand social spending to public sector employees must be improved in order to restore the functioning of public sector institutions. As far as the exchange rate is concerned, Mr. Rigo commented that the continued presence of multiple exchange rates is distorting economic activity, facilitating corruption and exerting pressure on the Central Bank’s reserves, and nevertheless the parliament is yet to ratify the Capital Control and Deposit Withdrawal Limits Law that was submitted to it in March. Always in the same regard, Mr. Rigo stated that while the revisiting of the Banking Secrecy Law back in July constitutes a positive step, said law still does not align with best international practice, yet added that the parliament is currently in the process of addressing the shortcomings of the law. Mr. Rigo also stressed on the importance of implementing the recently approved financial sector rehabilitation strategy in such a manner that protects small depositors and respects the hierarchy of claims. Finally, Mr. Rigo reiterated the urgent need to implement the required reforms, being a prerequisite to any IMF program while adding that any delay in implementation would increase the losses for the country.