Lebanon’s central bank to receive $1.13b in IMF funds
No ‘magic wand’ to fix crisis, PM Mikati says at first meeting of new government
Lebanon’s finance ministry yesterday said that the central bank would receive $1.135 billion on September 16 in International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), much needed funds as the country struggles with food and fuel shortages.
The new allocation of the IMF’s reserve currency comprises $860 million from 2021 and $275 million from 2009.
This came as Lebanon’s newly-formed government held its first meeting yesterday to discuss ways of rescuing the country from one of its worst ever economic crises.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said there was no time to lose and no easy path to tackle one of history’s worst economic meltdowns. He told the Cabinet that it would take will, determination and a plan to achieve the hopes of the population.
“It is true that we don’t have a magic wand. The situation is very difficult,” the billionaire-turned-politician said, pledging to work hard to resolve shortages of fuel and medicine, supplies of which have dried up as the importdependent nation’s hard currency reserves have run out.
Hezbollah: First Iranian fuel oil to arrive Thursday
Meanwhile, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said yesterdayday that the first vessel carrying Iranian fuel oil for Lebanon arrived in Syria’s Baniyas on Sunday and will land in Bekaa by Thursday.
Nasrallah thanked Syrian authorities for receiving the shipment in their ports and for facilitating its transfer by land into Lebanon.
“We were told that the arrival of the vessel here [in Lebanon] would harm the country and we don’t want to harm the country so we went for another option,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.