The Lebanese parliament has approved the 2022 state budget, one of the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help Lebanon with its continuous crisis.
Lebanon and the IMF had reached a conditional agreement on a $3 billion loan in April to help the country tackle its economic crisis, but the IMF last week condemned the “very slow” progress Beirut has made towards implementing reforms.
The approved budget sets expenditures at 41 trillion Lebanese pounds, while revenues were projected at 30 trillion Lebanese pounds.
The budget has set the dollar exchange rate at 15,000 LBP to the dollar contravening calls by the IMF to unify the various dollar exchange rates functioning across the country.
Lebanon is in the middle of an economic meltdown that the World Bank has branded one of the world’s worst crises in modern times.
The IMF has conditioned its loan on a series of measures, including the approval of the budget as well as reforms of the banking sector, and the implementation of formal capital controls.
The head of a visiting IMF delegation last week said the country had yet to implement the needed reforms.
“Despite the urgency for action to address Lebanon’s deep economic and social crisis, progress in implementing the reforms remains very slow,” said Ernesto Ramirez Rigo.
