The government met at the Grand Serail on April 8, 2025. (Credit: NNA)
A Cabinet meeting took place on Tuesday morning at the Grand Serail to discuss the banking sector and its restructuring. The government continued its review of the banking restructuring bill and approved the reasons for enacting this law, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's Cabinet is expected to continue working on this matter on Friday.
Salam's government began studying the bill last Friday. It is one of the two projects that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requires to be adopted before the end of April as a goodwill gesture, the other being the revision of banking secrecy. The subject caused a heated debate among the ministers, with some officials denouncing a rush to adopt such a crucial law, knowing that the text had only recently been received.
The economic dossier was discussed last weekend during the visit of deputy U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, who urged Lebanese authorities to carry out the reforms demanded by international donors in order to unlock funds that could help the country emerge from the economic crisis that has plagued it since 2019.
Lebanon also faces the high cost of reconstruction following the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Ortagus met on Sunday with Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, Economy Minister Amer Bsat, and the new governor of the central bank of Lebanon, Karim Souhaid, to review the economic reforms undertaken by the government.
According to information from L'Orient Today, the U.S. envoy praised the reforms initiated by the government, ranging from the lifting of banking secrecy to the restructuring of the sector, including the adoption of a mechanism for appointments. She also emphasized the importance of combating money laundering and concluding an agreement with the IMF.
A meeting between Lebanese representatives and those of the IMF is scheduled during the spring meetings organized by the international financial institution with the World Bank in Washington, from April 21 to 26.
