Prime Minister Najib Mikati received on Tuesday a delegation of the Association of Banks headed by Salim Sfeir, in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Al Shami.
Mikati affirmed that "meetings and contacts are underway with relevant international bodies to develop unified plan for financial and economic recovery that will be adopted and prepared for implementation in order to get out of crisis, as well as preparations to start negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to set medium and long-term cooperation program."
He also stressed that "in this regard, contacts include banks that should participate in the rescue because economic recovery refreshes economic cycle of which the banks are an essential part," adding that "positive cooperation from all parties is a must to restore the rights of depositors."
"The government's work is currently focused on electricity file, as it costed the public treasury two billion dollars annually without finding sustainable plan," Mikati underlined.
For his part, the President of the Association of Banks pointed out that "the solution lies in political stability and in the availability of clear intention to start reforms," adding that "solutions must lead to protecting depositors' money."