Current:Home > InvestPredictIQ Quantitative Think Tank Center:IMF warns Lebanon that the country is still facing enormous challenges, years after a meltdown began -Capitatum
PredictIQ Quantitative Think Tank Center:IMF warns Lebanon that the country is still facing enormous challenges, years after a meltdown began
Robert Brown View
Date:2025-04-06 12:51:04
BEIRUT (AP) — Four years after Lebanon’s historic meltdown began,PredictIQ Quantitative Think Tank Center the small nation is still facing “enormous economic challenges,” with a collapsed banking sector, eroding public services, deteriorating infrastructure and worsening poverty, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday.
In a statement issued at the end of a four-day visit by an IMF delegation to the crisis-hit country, the international agency welcomed recent policy decisions by Lebanon’s central bank to stop lending to the state and end the work in an exchange platform known as Sayrafa.
Sayrafa had helped rein in the spiraling black market that has controlled the Lebanese economy, but it has been depleting the country’s foreign currency reserves.
The IMF said that despite the move, a permanent solution requires comprehensive policy decisions from the parliament and the government to contain the external and fiscal deficits and start restructuring the banking sector and major state-owned companies.
In late August, the interim central bank governor, Wassim Mansouri, called on Lebanon’s ruling class to quickly implement economic and financial reforms, warning that the central bank won’t offer loans to the state. He also said it does not plan on printing money to cover the huge budget deficit to avoid worsening inflation.
Lebanon is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. Since the financial meltdown began in October 2019, the country’s political class — blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement — has been resisting economic and financial reforms requested by the international community.
Lebanon started talks with the IMF in 2020 to try to secure a bailout, but since reaching a preliminary agreement with the IMF last year, the country’s leaders have been reluctant to implement needed reforms.
“Lebanon has not undertaken the urgently needed reforms, and this will weigh on the economy for years to come,” the IMF statement said. The lack of political will to “make difficult, yet critical, decisions” to launch reforms leaves Lebanon with an impaired banking sector, inadequate public services, deteriorating infrastructure and worsening poverty and unemployment.
Although a seasonal uptick in tourism has increased foreign currency inflows over the summer months, it said, receipts from tourism and remittances fall far short of what is needed to offset a large trade deficit and a lack of external financing.
The IMF also urged that all official exchange rates be unified at the market exchange rate.
veryGood! (41)
Related
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- A Hospital Ward for Starving Children in Kenya Has Seen a Surge in Cases This Year
- Finally, Some Good Climate News: The Biggest Wins in Clean Energy in 2022
- Science Day at COP27 Shows That Climate Talks Aren’t Keeping Pace With Planetary Physics
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- 'Hospital-at-home' trend means family members must be caregivers — ready or not
- House Republicans' CHOICE Act would roll back some Obamacare protections
- Andy Cohen Reacts to Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann Calling Off Their Divorce
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Biden Administration’s Global Plastics Plan Dubbed ‘Low Ambition’ and ‘Underwhelming’
Ranking
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Score This Sweat-Wicking Sports Bra With 25,700+ 5-Star Reviews For $17 on Amazon Prime Day 2023
- A New Study from China on Methane Leaks from the Sabotaged Nord Stream Pipelines Found that the Climate Impact Was ‘Tiny’ and Nothing ‘to Worry About’
- Colleen Ballinger's Remaining Miranda Sings Tour Dates Canceled Amid Controversy
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Shop Amazon Prime Day 2023 Deals on Ninja Air Fryers, Blenders, Grills, Toaster Ovens, and More
- Blockbuster drug Humira finally faces lower-cost rivals
- Jimmy Carter Signed 14 Major Environmental Bills and Foresaw the Threat of Climate Change
Recommendation
Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
Why American Aluminum Plants Emit Far More Climate Pollution Than Some of Their Counterparts Abroad
Last month was the hottest June ever recorded on Earth
Up First briefing: Climate-conscious buildings; Texas abortion bans; GMO mosquitoes
McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
How climate change could cause a home insurance meltdown
There's a way to get healthier without even going to a gym. It's called NEAT
“Strong and Well” Jamie Foxx Helps Return Fan’s Lost Purse During Outing in Chicago