BEIRUT — The Ministry of Finance Yassine Jaber held a series of meetings on Monday in preparation for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank next week, according to a statement released by the ministry's media office.

The 2025 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF will take place from April 21 to 26, in Washington, D.C. 

Jaber first met with a World Bank delegation, including the institution's Country Director, Jean Christophe Carret. In this meeting, the participants discussed the preparations that are being made to potentially obtain additional funds for the "LEAP project (the project for the reconstruction of infrastructure in affected areas), which initially started with $250 million from the World Bank that had already been negotiated." 

The minister also held a meeting with Economy Minister Amer al-Bassat and Central Bank Governor Karim Souhaid, after which the three joined the meeting of the IMF negotiating committee, which includes experts representing the Ministry of Finance, advisors to President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. In this meeting, Lebanon's joint paper containing the government's economic and financial reform plan was reviewed and finalized.

Commenting on the Washington meetings, Jaber said: "What is important is that we are going with a unified position, because unfortunately, over the past years, we went with different delegations, one from the government and another from the Central Bank of Lebanon. Today, we are going with a common vision and carrying positive elements with us as messages to the international and Arab community participating in these meetings, namely the adoption of laws by the government, such as amendments to the banking secrecy law to allow for greater oversight of the BDL and the Banking Control Commission, as well as the adoption of the Banking Regulation Law, which constitutes a first step to fully address the issue of depositors' rights and launch a more efficient banking sector."

During its session on Saturday, the Cabinet approved the draft law on restructuring the banking sector, which is expected to be sent to Parliament on Monday or Tuesday. The decision follows the March 27 approval of a draft amendment to the banking secrecy law, which has also been submitted to Parliament and is set to be reviewed Wednesday by the joint parliamentary committees.

He added that a new BDL team will be formed in the coming period. “In the next five or six weeks, there will be new appointments for the deputy governors and the banking supervisory committee," he said.

"Some may say that people don't see tangible things now, but I assure that within a few weeks everyone will feel that there is a big change that we will start to feel through the new appointments for which a transparent mechanism has been developed," the minister added, citing the announcement of a new administration for the Council for Development and Reconstruction, and the announcement of a call for nominations for the regulatory body in the telecommunications sector.

"Between today and tomorrow will announce the call for nominations for the electricity regulatory body," he finally said.