The International Monetary Fund announced today, Thursday, that it had reached a preliminary agreement with the Lebanese authorities on an aid plan worth three billion dollars over four years.
Ramirez Rigo, who headed the IMF delegation to Lebanon, said in a statement that if the plan is approved by the fund’s management and board, the aid sent to Lebanon will fall within the framework of “supporting the reform authorities’ plan to restore growth and financial stability.”
The statement stated that the Lebanese authorities had agreed to carry out “several decisive reforms”, before the meeting of the International Financial Corporation’s board of directors.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati considered that the reforms included in the initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund are a “visa” for donor countries to cooperate with his country, which has been mired in economic collapse for more than two years.
Mikati told reporters, after the International Monetary Fund announced the initial agreement with Lebanon, that “the reforms are in Lebanon’s interest, and since they are in Lebanon’s interest, we will abide by them.”
In March, a delegation from the International Monetary Fund began a new mission in Lebanon, which is mired in an unprecedented economic crisis, as part of negotiations to reach an agreement on a financial recovery plan.
Since 2019, Lebanon has witnessed an unprecedented economic collapse, which the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world since the middle of the last century. This is accompanied by political paralysis that prevents taking reform steps to reduce the deterioration and improve the quality of life of the population, more than 80% of whom live below the poverty line.
In 2020, Lebanon defaulted for the first time on its foreign debt.