Economics
IMF Deal Breakthrough Is Within Reach for Crisis-Hit Lebanon
- Fund’s delegation is in Beirut this week to continue aid talks
- Lebanon defaulted on over $30 billion of foreign debt in 2020
This article is for subscribers only.
Lebanon may be closer than ever to breaking a two-year deadlock in talks with the International Monetary Fund, a senior official said, a step that could help draw a line under one of the world’s worst financial crises in over a century.
The economy is in the grip of hyperinflation with the currency in freefall after the government defaulted on over $30 billion in international debt. But as key legislation makes its way through parliament, Lebanese authorities are turning more optimistic they can reach a staff-level agreement with the Washington-based lender before elections in May, Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami said in an interview.