{
  "title": "Lebanon and the IMF: Frequently Asked Questions on Lebanon",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/countries/lbn/faq",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/countries/lbn/faq",
  "overlayPath": "/en/countries/lbn/faq/index.md",
  "summary": "The IMF is ready to help Lebanon and its people overcome this unprecedented crisis. To do that, a new government that has the will and the mandate to implement the necessary comprehensive reforms is critically needed.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- The IMF is ready to help Lebanon and its people overcome this unprecedented crisis, contingent on a new government that has the will and the mandate to implement the necessary comprehensive reforms.\n- The challenges are described as exceptionally large, encompassing deep humanitarian, social, and economic dimensions intensified by the pandemic."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Recent economic and social developments",
      "content": "- The economy has already contracted by about 30 percent since 2017 and is expected to contract further in 2021–22.\n- The Lebanese lira has lost approx. 90 percent of its value.\n- Food prices have increased almost ten-fold since May 2019.\n- Unemployment is exceptionally high.\n- Over half of households are below the poverty level.\n- The pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on the economy and the population."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Need for financial and technical assistance",
      "content": "- Lebanon needs significant financial and technical assistance to overcome the crisis and to initiate comprehensive reforms to:\n  - bring public finances into order;\n  - restructure public debt;\n  - rehabilitate the banking system;\n  - expand the social safety net;\n  - reform state-owned enterprises (SOEs);\n  - improve governance."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key reform priorities and policy recommendations",
      "content": "- Implement a comprehensive reform plan addressing unprecedented challenges, including:\n  - Tackling the fundamental problem of weak governance:\n    - Reforms to enhance transparency centered on strengthening the anti-corruption framework and improving SOE performance, particularly the energy sector.\n    - This should include audits of the central bank and the electricity provider.\n  - Implementing a fiscal strategy:\n    - Combine deep debt restructuring and reforms to restore credibility, predictability, and transparency of the fiscal framework, while expanding the social safety net to protect the most vulnerable.\n  - Pursuing a comprehensive restructuring of the financial sector:\n    - Recognize upfront the losses at private banks and the central bank, while protecting smaller depositors.\n  - Establishing a credible monetary and exchange rate system:\n    - Supported by the unification of multiple exchange rates and accompanied temporarily by formal capital controls."
    },
    {
      "heading": "SDR allocation and its intended use",
      "content": "- On August 2, the IMF’s Board of Governors approved a general allocation of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) of US$650 billion, to be made available to all 190 member countries according to their quota share.\n- Lebanon will receive approximately $860 million of SDRs to strengthen the country’s depleted reserves and to help with urgent needs of the Lebanese people.\n- It is important that the SDR allocation help replenish depleted central bank reserves and that any use is done in a transparent and responsible manner that supports needed macroeconomic adjustment and reforms."
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "The IMF is ready to help Lebanon and its people overcome this unprecedented crisis, contingent on a new government that has the will and the mandate to implement the necessary comprehensive reforms.",
    "The challenges are described as exceptionally large, encompassing deep humanitarian, social, and economic dimensions intensified by the pandemic.",
    "The economy has already contracted by about 30 percent since 2017 and is expected to contract further in 2021–22.",
    "The Lebanese lira has lost approx. 90 percent of its value.",
    "Food prices have increased almost ten-fold since May 2019.",
    "Unemployment is exceptionally high.",
    "Over half of households are below the poverty level.",
    "The pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on the economy and the population.",
    "Lebanon needs significant financial and technical assistance to overcome the crisis and to initiate comprehensive reforms to:",
    "Implement a comprehensive reform plan addressing unprecedented challenges, including:",
    "On August 2, the IMF’s Board of Governors approved a general allocation of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) of US$650 billion, to be made available to all 190 member countries according to their quota share.",
    "Lebanon will receive approximately $860 million of SDRs to strengthen the country’s depleted reserves and to help with urgent needs of the Lebanese people.",
    "It is important that the SDR allocation help replenish depleted central bank reserves and that any use is done in a transparent and responsible manner that supports needed macroeconomic adjustment and reforms."
  ],
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  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-30T19:08:37.547Z"
}