Le Logo du Fonds Monétaire International (FMI)
Le Logo du Fonds Monétaire International (FMI)

Le porte-parole du Fonds Monétaire International a réitéré la volonté de l’institution à reprendre les négociations, suspendues pour l’heure, dès que le prochain gouvernement sera formé.

Gerry Rice avait précédemment exprimé sa sympathie au peuple libanais. Il a indiqué que le FMI est en contact avec les autorités libanaises, notamment pour offrir une assistance technique face au drame du port de Beyrouth.

Concernant l’audit juricomptable de la Banque du Liban qui vient d’être signé, il s’agira notamment d’estimer les pertes passées de la banque centrale, citant le cas des opérations d’ingénierie financière qui auraient couté à l’établissement public 24 milliards de dollars au profit d’établissements bancaires privés.

Le transcript de la déclaration (en anglais)

So, let me take the first question from AFP from Delphine Touitou and Delphine is asking can you give us a status update on Lebanon. Yesterday the Finance Minister said a forensic audit of the central bank has been launched as requested by the IMF. Given this development, any chance the discussions will resume with the IMF?

The first thing I want to say on Lebanon is of course is to reiterate our sympathies to the people of Lebanon in light of that dreadful explosion at the port some weeks ago. On the IMF and Lebanon, we stand ready to engage with the new government after its formation is completed and Kristalina Georgieva said recently we are ready to redouble our efforts to help Lebanon and the people of Lebanon overcome the social and economic crisis it faces.

In the meantime, getting to Delphine’s question, we’ve been in touch with the Lebanese authorities on some technical issues and we’ve offered technical assistance in areas that can help to face some of the challenges again following that terrible event at the port. And on the question of the audit, the Minister of Finance has recently signed the accounting, financial, and the forensic audits of the Central Bank as Delphine indicated. Our discussions have focused on the need for an accounting and financial audit of the Central Bank’s balance sheet, which will help assess its assets and liabilities and their underlying evaluations.

The audit will also help assess the impact of the Central Bank’s financing of government operations and the Central Bank’s financial engineering on its own at net worth. This is an important part of assessing past losses that are a part of the Central Bank’s balance sheet. So, that’s where we stand on Lebanon.