Banque du Liban Governot Riad Salameh Salameh predicts the IMF agreement will contribute to the unification of the exchange rate. (Credit: AFP/Joseph Eid)
BEIRUT – Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh told Reuters Friday that prior conditions set by the International Monetary Fund in a staff-level agreement with Lebanon would be met in order to secure IMF board approval for an economic program. His remarks came a day after an IMF statement saying that Lebanon could be supported by a 46-month fund arrangement with a requested access to $3 billion.
Here’s what we know:
• “We hope that the prior conditions set by the IMF are met in order to have program approval by the IMF board,” Salameh told Reuters via text message, describing the agreement as “a positive development for Lebanon.” The IMF expects Lebanese authorities to carry out a series of economic reforms as a precondition to aid.
• Salameh predicted the IMF agreement will contribute to the unification of the exchange rate. The official rate of LL1,507 Lebanese pounds against the dollar has coexisted with several other rates since the start of the crisis in 2019, particularly with the parallel market rate, currently set at LL24,000.
• The BDL "cooperated [with] and facilitated the mission" of the IMF, the governor added.
• The preliminary IMF agreement includes a comprehensive reform plan prepared by the Lebanese side to distribute financial losses accumulated by the state, BDL, and the local banking sector, and to facilitate the recovery of the collapsing economy.