WASHINGTON: Lebanon’s cabinet is soon expected to approve and send to parliament a long-awaited law needed to restructure its debt burden, the country’s economy minister said, adding that policymakers are in touch daily with the International Monetary Fund.
Lebanon is struggling to emerge from a severe economic crisis following decades of profligate spending by ruling elites that sent the economy into a tailspin in late 2019, with depositors locked out of accounts as debt-laden banks shut down.
Key to the fiscal and economic overhaul is a law on the distribution of financial losses between the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors — dubbed the “fiscal gap” law.
Asked about progress on the law, Amer Bizat said the government’s emphasis was on good legislation rather than speedy progress.
“The idea is to present it, discuss in the cabinet, approve in the cabinet, and then send it over to the parliament,” Bizat told Reuters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank. He added that he expected these things to happen “soon.”
