IMF staff called for further changes to Lebanon’s deposit recovery framework on 18 September after concluding a Beirut mission. The team welcomed amendments to the separate Bank Resolution Law. However, it said depositors should not bear losses before shareholders and junior creditors.
Lebanon’s cabinet approved a financial gap bill in December 2025 to distribute losses from the country’s banking collapse, Reuters reported. The proposal covered the state, central bank, commercial lenders and depositors. It sought to enable savers locked out of their accounts to recover money gradually.
LOSS ALLOCATION REMAINED CENTRAL
The Fund said proposed repayments must remain compatible with viable banks and sustainable public debt. Its assessment was a preliminary staff statement, not an Executive Board decision.
The earlier cabinet vote exposed competing interests in the recovery process. Reuters reported opposition from depositors and the Association of Banks in Lebanon, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam defended the legislation as a step towards restoring confidence.
WASHINGTON TALKS WERE PLANNED
L’Orient Today independently reported the arrival of the IMF delegation on 15 September. Led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the four-day mission was tasked with monitoring reforms.
Finance Minister Yassin Jaber planned to visit Washington with Salam before the end of September for meetings with IMF and World Bank leaders, according to L’Orient Today. Those talks would provide another opportunity to advance reforms; an IMF arrangement remained conditional on further progress.