The head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, and the interim governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Wassim Manssouri, in Dubai on Monday, February 10, 2025. Photo P.H.B.
BEIRUT — International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday that “intensive consultations” were underway with Lebanon’s allies to provide assistance to the crisis-hit country. Speaking to Sky News Arabia, she stressed that the IMF was "ready to act quickly" as Lebanon grapples with a financial collapse since 2019 exacerbated by more than 15 months of war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Georgieva, whose remarks were shared on X by the news channel, said Lebanon’s economic situation had created an opening for long-delayed reforms. Her comments came on the sidelines of the ninth Arab Public Finance Forum in Dubai, ahead of the 2025 World Government Summit.
While at the forum, Georgieva met with Banque du Liban (BDL) interim governor Wassim Manssouri. According to a statement from BDL, they discussed Lebanon’s economic trajectory following the January election of President Joseph Aoun, which ended a more than two-year presidential vacuum. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has since formed a new government to replace that of Najib Mikati, which had remained in a caretaker role since the May 2022 parliamentary elections.
Georgieva welcomed these political developments, calling them key steps toward stability. She also praised the composition of Lebanon’s "reform and rescue" government, highlighting its inclusion of experts selected independently of the country’s entrenched political parties. The IMF, she reaffirmed, remained committed to supporting Lebanon’s new leadership and hoped to engage directly with authorities on the ground soon.
Facing the challenges
Last week, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozak echoed Georgieva’s optimism, stating that the IMF was "eager to work" with Lebanon’s new leadership to tackle its economic crisis.
Kozak noted Thursday that Lebanon continues to face deep economic challenges, and the war with Israel has only worsened an already fragile macroeconomic and social landscape. She stressed that the election of a president, formation of a government and maintenance of the cease-fire were essential steps toward stabilizing the economy.
The IMF has yet to update its economic forecasts for Lebanon, with the latest data on its website — published last October — showing a 0.7 percent contraction in GDP. Since then, Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, Beirut and its southern suburbs have inflicted further damage. In December, after a cease-fire took effect on Nov. 27, the World Bank revised its projections, predicting a 5.7 percent contraction and estimating total war-related damages — since Oct. 8, 2023 — at over $3.4 billion, with economic losses nearing $5.1 billion.
Lebanon’s financial crisis predates the war, with a banking sector in paralysis and an illegal freeze on tens of billions of dollars in deposits. Recovery hinges on reforms to address the roughly $70 billion in financial sector liabilities — measures Lebanon pledged to implement under a 2022 preliminary agreement with the IMF but has yet to enact. The formation of Salam’s government raises hopes that stalled negotiations could resume, potentially unlocking a long-awaited restructuring of the banking sector, civil service reforms, and a renegotiation of Lebanon’s sovereign debt, which has been in default since March 2020.
Syria and Egypt
On the regional level, Ms. Georgieva told Sky News Arabia that 'ongoing conflicts in the region cast a shadow on economic stability,' hoping that the ceasefire agreement in Gaza will help calm the situation. She expected the MENA region to show 3.6% growth in 2025.
Georgieva also addressed broader regional economic concerns, noting that conflicts across the Middle East were casting a shadow over financial stability. She expressed hope that the cease-fire in Gaza would help de-escalate tensions, projecting 3.6 percent growth for the MENA region in 2025.
On Syria, where a Western-backed Islamist coalition replaced Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024, Georgieva said the IMF had not engaged with Damascus since 2009 but stood "ready to assist" in the country’s reconstruction "when conditions permit."
Regarding Egypt, she said the IMF board was expected to approve an additional $1.3 billion under its stability and sustainability program, underscoring the IMF's commitment to supporting the Egyptian economy.
