BEIRUT — Minister of Finance Yassine Jaber met with representatives from the international financial advisory firm Lazard on Wednesday. At the onset of the economic crisis in 2019, then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab's government had consulted with Lazard for initial (and subsequently abandoned) attempts to implement a plan for debt restructuring and financial recovery.

The ministry did not share any substantial information following Jaber's meeting with Lazard, simply stating that the delegation was led by one of the firm's directors, Jérôme Alexis, who presented the minister with "his institution's vision on the reforms the government intends to undertake in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund [IMF], as well as on the restructuring of the public debt and the eurobond portfolio," in reference to the dollar-denominated debt securities that Lebanon stopped repaying in March 2020.

In a separate meeting on the same day, Jaber also spoke with U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson about "several matters of general interest," according to a ministry statement.

In Nawaf Salam's government, some ministers recommend relying on Lazard's recommendations as a way to fuel discussions with the IMF, hoping to conclude a new preliminary agreement before the summer. But there is opposition to this stance among other ministers, according to political sources speaking with L'Orient-Le Jour.

The Lazard team's visit comes a week after a visit from an IMF delegation led by the head of mission for Lebanon, Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, with whom Lebanese authorities have officially filed a renewed request for financial assistance. This step, in ending the cycle of unsuccessful discussions launched by Najib Mikati's government following his September 2021 inauguration, requires the Salam government to conduct an entirely new cycle. It's possible the process could be accelerated by progress made in recent years in terms of diagnostics and plan development.

The Diab government had developed its debt restructuring plan based on its discussions with IMF and Lazard's estimates and recommendations, which it had selected in February 2020 to manage the financial aspect of this operation, alongside Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton for the legal aspect. But this plan was thwarted by the banking lobby, leading IMF, consulted in the spring of that same year, to pause its discussions with Lebanon before resuming them upon Mikati's arrival.