Lebanon asks World Bank, IMF for help with economic rescue plan

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister asks international funding bodies for support in drawing up an emergency rescue plan for his protest-wracked country.

Donors including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday rebuffed a plea for financial aid pending the rapid formation of a new government to implement key economic reforms.

Caretaker premier Saad Hariri calls World Bank president David Malpass and IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva today, his office says, to stress “his commitment to preparing an urgent rescue plan to resolve the crisis, while waiting for the formation of a new cabinet able to implement it. He discussed with both the technical support the Work Bank and IMF could provide in drawing up this plan.”

Lebanon has been rocked by unprecedented popular protests since October 17 over official mismanagement and corruption demonstrators blame for a deteriorating economy. In a country where the local currency is pegged to the US dollar and used in everyday transactions, banks have gradually restricted greenback withdrawals, causing a dollar liquidity crisis that has made imports increasingly difficult and expensive.

Hariri also asks Malpass about “the possibility of the bank… increasing its contribution to funding international trade to Lebanon” to help importers bring in essential goods.

Lebanon has been without a cabinet since Hariri stepped down on October 29, with a bitterly divided political class unable to agree on a new premier ever since.

— AFP