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IMF BAILOUT

Bou Habib discusses IMF negotiations' acceleration with Le Drian, Aboul Gheit in Spain

Bou Habib discusses IMF negotiations' acceleration with Le Drian, Aboul Gheit in Spain

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib speaks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. (Credit: Photo provided by our correspondent Hoda Chedid)

BEIRUT — Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib spoke with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmad Aboul Gheit about the need for Lebanon to speed up negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to roll out a financial rescue package amid the country’s more than 2-year-old economic crisis.

Here's what we know:

    • Bou Habib met the two officials in Spain at the sixth regional forum of the Union for the Mediterranean.

    • The officials stressed the need to “speed up negotiations with the IMF and that Lebanon should provide them with data and documents required to put in place a recovery plan as soon as possible to benefit from European or other aid,” the NNA reported.

    • They also discussed the role Lebanon has “in the region and means to prevent it from being involved in a [diplomatic] crisis to benefit from additional aid.”

    • Lebanon’s cabinet has not met since Oct. 12 due tensions between its members over the Beirut blast probe, while any IMF deal needs to be approved by the government to become effective. The country is also deep into a diplomatic crisis with the Gulf countries due to controversial remarks made by Lebanese Information Minister George Kurdahi on Saudi involvement in the war in Yemen. 

BEIRUT — Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib spoke with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmad Aboul Gheit about the need for Lebanon to speed up negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to roll out a financial rescue package amid the country’s more than 2-year-old economic crisis.Here's what we know:     • Bou Habib met the two...