The International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s latest report on Lebanon encourages the government to press ahead with restructuring and privatization, Lebanese Finance Minister Fouad Siniora said Sunday.
The IMF submitted a nine-page report on its findings to the government last week. The report, which received mixed reactions from officials and economists, expressed cautious optimism over the government’s efforts to reduce the public debt.
“This report will help us to speed up the process of administrative reform and select the companies that will run some of the state-owned companies,” he told the Daily Star.
“The report did not say anything new,” he added, stressing that the government was fully aware of the gravity of the situation. “We should stop talking negatively about the country and the economy. The government is determined to complete its work at any cost.”
An IMF delegation met with several government officials this month to assess the financial situation before submitting its report, said the paper.
The report projected GDP growth at 1.5 percent at the end of 2001 and 4.5 percent in the next few years. The IMF warned that the public debt might reach $40 billion in 2005, or 175 percent of Gross Domestic Product, if the government failed to reduce the deficit through privatization and new taxes – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
