BEIRUT: The Lebanese government will resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund while beginning reforms demanded by donors, according to a draft policy program that aims to tackle one of the worst financial meltdowns in history.
New Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government will also resume negotiations with creditors over a restructuring of public debt on which Lebanon defaulted last year, the draft seen by Reuters on Wednesday said.
The government was agreed on Friday after more than a year of political conflict over seats in cabinet that left the country rudderless as more than three-quarters of the population fell into poverty and shortages crippled normal life.
The cabinet is due to meet on Thursday to approve the draft, which will then go to a vote of confidence in parliament.
Underscoring the gravity of the situation, the policy program was drawn up in a matter of days, much faster than the weeks the process has taken in the past.
The draft said the government was committed to resuming talks with the IMF for a short- and medium-term support plan.
Donors want to see Lebanon enact reforms, including measures to tackle the corruption and graft that led to the economic collapse, before they will unlock billions of dollars of assistance already earmarked for the country.
Talks with the IMF broke down last summer when Lebanon’s political elite and banking sector objected to the scale of financial losses set out in a recovery plan drawn up by the previous government.
The draft program said the Mikati government would renew and develop the previous financial recovery plan, which set out a shortfall in the financial system of some $90 billion — a figure endorsed by the IMF.
The government will also draw up a plan to “correct the situation of (the) banking sector,” which has been paralyzed since late 2019, the draft said.
Lebanon’s financial system unraveled in late 2019.
The root cause was decades of profligate spending by the state and the unsustainable way in which it was financed.
As dollars dried up, depositors were frozen out of their accounts. The value of hard currency savings has plummeted by up to 80 percent since then, with the Lebanese pound collapsing by 90 percent from a peg that had existed for more than two decades.
The program draft said the government was committed to all the articles set out in a reform initiative drawn up by France, which has been at the forefront of efforts to help Lebanon.
The government will work with parliament to pass a capital control law, the draft document said.
It also said parliamentary elections due next spring would be held on time.
Lebanon to resume IMF talks, begin reforms, draft policy statement says
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Lebanon to resume IMF talks, begin reforms, draft policy statement says
- New government will also resume negotiations with creditors over a restructuring of public debt
- The draft said the government was committed to resuming talks with the IMF for a short- and medium-term support plan
IMF expected to conclude final review today of Pakistan’s $3 billion loan program
- IMF delegation arrived in Pakistan last week to carry out second and final review of its loan program
- Pakistan, IMF to discuss letter of intent, staff-level agreement today, says finance ministry official
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will conclude its review of Pakistan’s $3 billion short-term bailout program today, Tuesday, which was due to be completed on Monday, a Pakistani finance ministry official said amid Islamabad’s efforts to avoid a macroeconomic crisis and stabilize its fragile $350 billion economy.
The finance ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the visiting IMF delegation had decided to extend the deadline by a day on Monday as the review agenda couldn’t be completed in the scheduled period.
The IMF team arrived in Pakistan last week to carry out the second and final review under the short-term loan program secured by Islamabad last summer. Pakistan has said it has met all the structural benchmarks and targets set by the lender, hoping that a successful completion of the evaluation will be followed by the release of a remaining tranche of around $1.1 billion.
“The review agenda couldn’t be completed in the scheduled period, therefore the mission has extended it for a day for now,” the official told Arab News on Monday. “The letter of intent and staff-level agreement will be discussed tomorrow [Tuesday] now.”
Islamabad has expressed its interest in securing a new loan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program as it continues to carry out reforms to strengthen its debt-ridden economy.
On Monday, Pakistani financial authorities briefed the IMF mission on the country’s annual taxation targets, ways to abolish subsidies in different sectors, digitization of the tax system and expansion in the tax net, the official said.
“At the moment, Pakistan has been lagging on two fronts that are digitization of the taxation and bringing over 3 million retailers in the tax net,” he said. “The FBR has signed a memorandum this week for the digitization while the work on bringing the retailers into the tax net is underway.”
The global lender wants Pakistan to continue the economic stabilization and reforms agenda “till negotiation of the new loan program,” the official added.
Citing officials, Pakistani state media last week reported that Islamabad’s talks with the global lender for the second review of the ongoing program were “progressing positively.”
Pakistan secured the $3 billion IMF program in last June after it narrowly escaped a sovereign default. Its economy has been under extreme stress with low reserves, a balance of payment crisis, inflation at 23 percent, policy interest rates at 22 percent and record local currency depreciation.
Washington urges Pakistan to ‘exercise restraint’ following Afghanistan airstrikes
- White House official Karine Jean-Pierre urges Taliban to ensure “terrorist attacks” are not launched from Afghan soil
- Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces on Monday against alleged militant targets
ISLAMABAD: The White House this week urged Pakistan to exercise restraint and the Afghan Taliban to rein in militants from launching cross-border attacks, as tensions escalated between Islamabad and Kabul following Pakistan’s airstrikes in neighboring Afghanistan on Monday.
Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces early Monday against what it said were militant targets. The move infuriated the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, which said the strikes killed five women and three children, prompting their forces to fire at Pakistani forces along the border.
The incursions occurred at a time when relations between the two neighbors have been soured by an increase in militant attacks in Pakistan that Islamabad has blamed on militant groups operating from Afghanistan. Kabul denies the use of its soil against any country.
In a press briefing to reporters, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Washington deeply regrets the loss of lives and injuries sustained during Saturday’s attack on Pakistani security forces, which saw seven soldiers killed in the country’s northwest. She also regretted the loss of civilian lives during the strikes in Afghanistan.
“We urge the Taliban to ensure that terrorist attacks are not launched from Afghan soil,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “We urge Pakistan to exercise restraint and ensure civilians are not harmed in their counterterrorism efforts.”
The White House official urged both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.
“We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists who wish to harm United States or our other partners or allies,” she said.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, particularly in its western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering Afghanistan, after the Pakistani Taliban called off a fragile truce with Islamabad in Nov. 2022.
In a separate development, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome extended his condolences over the loss of lives of Pakistani soldiers in Saturday’s attack in the North Waziristan district. The remarks came after his meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
“The Ambassador conveyed his condolences for the loss of Pakistani soldiers in the recent terrorist attack in Waziristan and assured the President the United States stands with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism,” the US embassy said in a statement.
The two figures discussed a broad range of issues, including US support for continued economic reforms, human rights, and regional security, as well as the two countries’ shared interests and goals, it added.
Bangladesh, Pakistan and India bottom in air quality rankings in 2023 — data
- Pakistan remained one of the world’s three smoggiest countries in 2023
- Concentrations of PM2.5 reached 73.7, WHO recommends 5 micrograms
SINGAPORE: Pakistan remained one of the world’s three smoggiest countries in 2023, as Bangladesh and India replaced Chad and Iran, with particulate matter about 15 times the level recommended by the World Health Organization, data published on Tuesday showed.
Average concentrations of PM2.5 — small airborne particles that damage the lungs — reached 79.9 micrograms per cubic meter in Bangladesh in 2023, and 73.7 micrograms in Pakistan. The WHO recommends no more than 5 micrograms.
“Because of the climate conditions and the geography (in South Asia), you get this streak of PM2.5 concentrations that just skyrocket because the pollution has nowhere to go,” said Christi Chester Schroeder, air quality science manager at IQAir, a Swiss air-monitoring organization.
“On top of that are factors such as agricultural practices, industry and population density,” she added. “Unfortunately, it really does look like it will get worse before it gets better.”
In 2022, Bangladesh was ranked as having the fifth-worst air quality, and India was eighth.
About 20 percent of premature deaths in Bangladesh are attributed to air pollution, and related health care costs amount to 4 percent-5 percent of the country’s GDP, said Md Firoz Khan, an air pollution expert at Dhaka’s North South University.
Indian pollution also increased last year, with PM2.5 levels about 11 times higher than the WHO standard. India’s New Delhi was the worst-performing capital city, at 92.7 micrograms.
China also saw PM2.5 rise 6.3 percent to 32.5 micrograms last year, after five consecutive annual declines.
Only Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand met WHO standards in 2023.
The IQAir report was based on data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations in 134 countries and regions.
Chad, the world’s most polluted country in 2022, was excluded from the 2023 listings because of data issues. Iran and Sudan were also taken off the 2023 list.
Christa Hasenkopf, director of the Air Quality Life Index at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, said 39 percent of countries have no public air quality monitoring.
“Considering the large potential benefits and relatively low cost, it’s stunning that we don’t have an organized global effort to deploy resources to close these data gaps, especially in places where the health burden of air pollution has been largest,” she said.
Afghan refugee convicted in murder case that shocked Albuquerque Muslim community
- Muhammad Syed faces life in prison for killing Aftab Hussein in 2022
- Syed also will stand trial in the coming months for two other slayings