Lebanon: the IMF warns of a risk of “dislocation of the economy”

Beirut

The head of the delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in charge of the Lebanese file, ended a mission of several days in Beirut with a clear observation: the “breakdown of the economy” is extremely serious. In the absence of funding,the entire public sector is practically at a standstill» ; inflation is in three digits; growing poverty and Lebanon “risks getting bogged down in an endless crisis”.

Ernesto Ramirez-Rigo, recognizes that the Lebanese case is “unique” in the world, “both in its complexity and in the scale of the losses which are calculated in multiples of GDP”. But he reiterates that the alternative does indeed exist: the one that was the subject of a technical agreement with Lebanon, in order to pave the way for an IMF program accompanied by a credit facility of 3 billion dollars, almost a year ago, on April 7, 2022.

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Nevertheless “Despite the gravity of the situation, which requires immediate and decisive action, the implementation of all economic reforms…