Minister of Finance Youssef El-Khalil received on Wednesday the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund and the representative of the Arab countries, including Lebanon, to the Executive Board of the Fund, Mahmoud Mohieldin. Discussions featured high on the preparations to negotiate the state's plan for economic recovery, which the government intends to announce soon, and the importance of Lebanon obtaining funding from the IMF and from international bodies and institutions, and opening up space for investments as soon as possible.

"What was mentioned by the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of Parliament reflects a keenness to make the relationship with the International Monetary Fund a success and to produce an integrated program that includes the four main dimensions that were discussed, namely: the public financial policies, the monetary policies and the exchange rate system, the affairs of the financial and the banking sectors as well as the Central Bank, and, lastly the structural and sectoral reforms, foremost of which is the support required from this program for a vital sector, which is the energy and electricity sector," Mohieldin said in the wake of the meeting.

"We are very optimistic," he assured in conclusion.