Jaber wants to be optimistic when approaching Spring Meetings of the IMF and the BM, in a week

The Minister of Finance, Yassine Jaber, held a series of meetings Monday in preparation for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank scheduled for next week, according to a statement published by the Ministry’s Press Bureau. The 2025 spring and IMF spring meetings will be held from April 21 to 26 in Washington.

Mr. Jaber first met a delegation from the World Bank, including in particular the country’s Director of the Institution, Jean-Christophe Carret. During this meeting, the participants discussed the ongoing preparations to potentially obtain additional funds for the LEAP project (the infrastructure reconstruction project in the affected areas), which had initially started with $ 250 million granted by the World Bank after previous negotiations.

The Minister also held a meeting with the Minister of the Economy Amer Bsat and the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon (BDL) Karim desiid, at the end of which all three joined the meeting of the negotiation committee with the IMF, made up of experts representing the Ministry of Finance, advisers of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

During this meeting, the common Lebanon document containing the government’s economic and financial reform plan was examined and finalized.

“A unified position”

Commenting on the meetings planned in Washington, Mr. Jaber said that the “important is that we are going there with a unified position, because unfortunately, in recent years, we have gone there with different delegations, one of the government and the other of the Central Bank of Lebanon”. He said that this time “we go with a common vision and carry with us meetings, namely the adoption by the government of laws such as amendments to the law on banking secrecy allowing better control of the central bank and the banking control commission, as well as the adoption of the law on banking regulation “.

During its session on Saturday, the Council of Ministers approved the bill on the restructuring of the banking sector, which should be sent to Parliament on Monday or Tuesday. This decision follows the approval, on March 27, of a project to amend the law on banking secrecy, also subject to Parliament and whose examination is scheduled for Wednesday by the joint parliamentary commissions.

“A big change in progress”

He added that a new team will be formed at BDL in the coming weeks. “In the next five or six weeks, new appointments will take place for vice-government and the banking supervision commission,” he said.

“Some may say that the population does not yet see concrete changes, but I assure that in the coming weeks, everyone will feel that a big change is underway, that we will start to perceive through these new appointments, for which a transparent mechanism has been put in place,” said Jaber.

In this regard, he cited the announcement of a new Directorate of the Development and Reconstruction Council, as well as the opening of a call for candidates for the regulatory organization in the telecommunications sector. “Between today and tomorrow, we will announce the call for candidates for the electricity regulatory authority,” he concluded.