Hezbollah Against IMF Management of Lebanon’s Crisis

Date: 25 February 2020 - 21:53

News ID: ۷۶۵۴۵

BEIRUT (Dispatches) – The powerful Lebanese Shia resistance movement Hezbollah is against allowing the IMF to manage Lebanon’s financial crisis, though it does not oppose Lebanon seeking the Fund’s advice, the group’s deputy leader was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
"We will not accept submitting to (imperialist) tools ... meaning we do not accept submitting to the International Monetary Fund to manage the crisis,” Hezbollah’s al-Manar news outlet cited Sheikh Naim Qassem as saying.
"Yes there is nothing to prevent consultations (with the IMF), and this is what the Lebanese government is doing,” Qassem said.
A team of experts from the IMF traveled to Lebanon on Thursday to provide the debt-ridden country with advice on how to alleviate a deepening economic crisis.
The team from the U.S.-based organization met with new Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab after arriving in Beirut.
The IMF said in a statement that the team would provide broad technical advice to the newly-formed government. Beirut has not yet requested financial aid from the fund.
Lebanon has been facing a tough economic situation because of alleged mismanagement and corruption during the past several decades. Protests started in the country in October last year, when the government proposed imposing a tax on WhatsApp calls, along with other austerity measures.
On October 29, the then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned under pressure from the unprecedented protests, creating a political void that lasted until January 21, when Diab assumed office as the country’s new premier.
Diab faces one of the worst crises in his county’s recent history and urgent decisions about the upcoming debt payments, particularly a 1.2-billion-dollar sovereign bond due early next month.
On Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an influential politician in the country, proposed the restructuring of Lebanon’s debts as the best solution for looming maturities.