An archive photo of Ernesto Ramirez-Rigo, who arrived Monday in Beirut at the head of an IMF delegation. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation has arrived in Lebanon for further talks with officials, hours after parliamentarians once again failed to make progress on a long-stalled bill for capital controls.
Here is what we know:
• A delegation headed by Ernesto Ramirez-Rigo, the IMF’s head of mission for Pakistan, Middle East and Central Asia, landed in Beirut for a trip scheduled to last several days, according to L’Orient Today’s Baabda Presidential Palace correspondent. Ramirez-Rigo is replacing Martin Cerisola as the international organization’s point-man for discussions with Lebanon, the correspondent added.
• The IMF delegation will meet Tuesday morning in the Grand Serail with Premier Najib Mikati, before holding a series of sit-downs with senior officials, the correspondent reported.
• Lebanon’s talks with the IMF resumed after Mikati’s cabinet came to power in September. While Beirut is seeking to unlock assistance from the IMF, key reforms are needed from the government, which stopped meeting on Oct. 12, due to a political row over Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the Beirut port explosion.
• Meanwhile, Lebanese lawmakers have not been able to agree on a capital control law that meets international standards. A Monday meeting of joint committees tasked to tackle the issue ended in recriminations, with two key legislators criticizing the latest version of the draft law in separate press briefings.