Another chance: Can Lebanon's Parliament pass key financial laws before IMF meetings in Washington?

Report by Lea Fayad, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi 

With the countdown underway for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Washington on April 21, Lebanon is scrambling to finalize key financial legislation. 

Alongside efforts to complete appointments to the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Lebanese delegation is expected to present two crucial financial laws.  

The first is an amended banking secrecy law aimed at easing confidentiality restrictions. The government has already approved the draft and referred it to Parliament for review.  

The second and more contentious is the banking sector restructuring law, which has faced repeated delays, particularly over disagreements on distributing financial losses and return deposits to account holders.  

To break the deadlock, the IMF has proposed dividing the law into two phases. 

The first would focus solely on establishing criteria for evaluating banks and determining which institutions are viable under international standards. This will be the focal point of discussions with the IMF in Washington. The second phase, dealing with loss distribution and deposit recovery, would be addressed at a later stage.  

The government is expected to discuss the first phase of the banking law in its next session before referring it to Parliament. 

However, the real test lies in securing its approval in time for the Washington meetings.  

Many recall the political deadlock of 2022 when Lebanon reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF only to see the opportunity slip away due to infighting between the government and Parliament.  

This time, the stakes are high. The IMF is waiting, and Lebanon cannot afford to miss another chance.