Nijmeh Square, in downtown Beirut, where the Parliament and the Grand Serail are located. (Credit: Illustrative photo P.H.B./L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has convened the joint parliamentary committees for a meeting on April 16 at 11 a.m. to review a draft law aimed at amending the country’s bank secrecy regulations, his office said on Tuesday.
The announcement came as Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab met with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the IMF’s mission chief for Lebanon, during his second visit to the country.
"Lebanon does not have the luxury of time to adopt these laws, while donor countries have conditioned aid on an agreement with the IMF for assistance to Lebanon and reconstruction," Rigo said, according to a statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
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For his part, Bou Saab voiced confidence that Lebanon "will adopt all reform laws, starting with the bank secrecy law, the restructuring of banks, and the management of the country's financial deficit — with the concern of safeguarding the funds of legitimate depositors."
Rigo made a low-profile, two-day visit to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday. He met with the Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, and the Chairman of the Economy Committee, Farid Boustany, to discuss reforms, according to the National News Agency.
The draft law under consideration, recently approved by the Cabinet, seeks to expand the powers of Lebanese supervisory authorities — including Banque du Liban (BDL) and the Banking Control Commission — to lift bank secrecy. It would eliminate procedural hurdles introduced by Law No. 306 of 2022, which itself marked a first attempt to overhaul regulations dating back to 1956. The legislation must still be passed by Parliament’s plenary session to become law.
The IMF, to whom Lebanon has recently reiterated its request to subscribe to a financial assistance program conditioned on the implementation of reforms to finance its recovery more than five years after the crisis that crippled the financial sector, expects Lebanese leaders to quickly adopt this reform, as well as the one organizing banking resolution.
Lebanon has recently formally requested IMF assistance to finance its economic recovery more than five years after a devastating financial collapse. Nonetheless, international financial assistance is conditioned on the country's adoption of this key reform, as well as another governing banking resolution.
Lebanese officials are expected to meet IMF representatives in Washington during the Fund's and World Bank’s spring meetings later this month.
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