IMF Chief Says More Unity Needed in Lebanon on Reforms

An anti-government protester waves a national flag in front of a concrete wall set up by Lebanese police to block a road leading to the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. (EPA)
An anti-government protester waves a national flag in front of a concrete wall set up by Lebanese police to block a road leading to the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. (EPA)
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IMF Chief Says More Unity Needed in Lebanon on Reforms

An anti-government protester waves a national flag in front of a concrete wall set up by Lebanese police to block a road leading to the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. (EPA)
An anti-government protester waves a national flag in front of a concrete wall set up by Lebanese police to block a road leading to the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. (EPA)

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday she does not yet have reason to see a breakthrough in negotiations with Lebanon to help resolve the country’s economic crisis.

Georgieva told a Reuters Newsmaker webcast event that IMF officials continue to work with Lebanon, but it is unclear whether the country’s leaders, stakeholders and society can unify around reforms needed to stabilize its economy and return it to a growth path.

Lebanon is battling a financial crisis regarded as the biggest threat to the country since its 1975-1990 civil war, with the Lebanese pound losing 75% of its value since October.

Hopes for a quick rescue deal with the IMF have been complicated by a dispute between the government and central bank over the scale of losses in the banking system. Concerns persist, meanwhile, over Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s commitment to reforms.

“The core of the issue is whether there can be a unity of purpose in the country that can then carry forward a set of very tough but necessary measures,” Georgieva said. “All I can say is that we are putting our best people to work with Lebanon, but we do not yet have a reason to say there is a breakthrough.”

Georgieva said Lebanon’s situation “breaks my heart” because the country has a strong entrepreneurial culture and has taken in Palestinian and Syrian refugees, helping to ease a major humanitarian crisis.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.