Press Release No. 20/67

A Statement on Lebanon by Gerry Rice, Director of the IMF’s Communications Department and IMF Spokesman

February 25, 2020

At the authorities’ request, a small IMF staff team, led by Martin Cerisola, visited Beirut from February 20-24. The team met with Prime Minister Diab, Deputy PM Zena Akar, Banque du Liban Governor Salame, Minister of Finance Wazni, and other ministers and senior government officials, as well as Parliament speaker Berri and other members of parliament. The discussions on the challenges and the authorities’ plans to address them were very informative and productive. Staff is available to provide further technical advice to the government as it formulates its economic reform plans.