Lebanon will face economic and financial risks in the near future: Governmental source

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A governmental source spoke to the Kuwaiti newspaper "Al-Anbaa" about the "challenges and risks that Lebanon will face in the near future if the political forces represented in the parliament and the government do not accelerate their national role."

"They need to break away from obstruction and raising slogans that fall outside the constitutional framework and are unrelated to the constitution. Instead, these actions are part of fueling political conflict for regional and even personal purposes," it continued.

This article was originally published in and translated from the online Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa.

Responding to a question, the source stated, "The risks are economic and financial. We have been informed by all neighboring and friendly countries, as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), that no one will provide a single dollar to assist Lebanon unless we swiftly move to enact laws and reform projects falling under four headlines:

1- Directly addressing the core issue of governance weakness. Reforms supporting transparency should revolve around enhancing the anti-corruption framework and improving the performance of state-owned institutions, especially in the energy sector. This should include comprehensive auditing of the Banque du Liban (BDL) accounts and the company responsible for electricity supply.

2- Implementing a public finance strategy that combines deep debt restructuring with credibility-restoring reforms. These reforms should bring sufficient clarity for trajectory prediction, ensure transparency in the public finance framework, and expand the necessary social safety net to protect the most vulnerable groups.

3- Undertaking comprehensive financial sector restructuring, beginning with upfront recognition of losses incurred by private banks and the BDL, which should be done while safeguarding the protection of small depositors.

4- Establishing a reliable monetary and exchange system based on unifying multiple exchange rates, accompanied by temporary official capital controls."