Economics

Lebanon’s PM Says IMF Asked for Changes to New Bank-Deposit Law

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam during a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21. — Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam during a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21.
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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By John Bowker and Joumanna Bercetche

January 21, 2026 at 5:30 PM UTC

Lebanon has been asked by the International Monetary Fund to amend a proposed law to allow depositors to recover funds trapped in the banking system, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said.

The IMF — which is in talks with Salam’s government about a deal to help repair the country’s battered finances — “can’t endorse the draft as presented” and suggested some changes, Salam said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.