The International Monetary Fund has told Lebanon that more work is needed before the two sides can agree a strategy for restructuring the country's broken banking sector — a deal that stands between Beirut and any new IMF support programme.

Source: AFP via Arab News, Nov 14, 2026

The message came in a statement on Friday, November 13, at the end of an IMF staff mission to Beirut from November 10 to 13, led by the fund's mission chief for Lebanon, Ernesto Ramirez Rigo. The visit continued discussions begun in September on the key elements of a restructuring plan.

Source: IMF statement via MENA Today, Nov 13, 2026

The fund said the mission made progress in clarifying the approaches under consideration by Banque du Liban, the central bank, and the government. Much of the focus fell on aligning the draft Financial Stabilization and Deposits Recovery Law — the so-called financial gap law now before Parliament — with international standards.

"However, further work is needed to reach an agreement on a strategy for an effective and durable restructuring of Lebanon's banking sector, leading to a sound and resilient system," Ramirez Rigo said in the statement.

The two laws at the centre of the talks

The IMF said the Bank Resolution Law, which sets out how distressed banks are resolved and liquidated, should be applied in all cases, to support a transparent and predictable process. Implementing it alongside the deposits recovery law, once that law is adopted, is essential, the fund said.

Further discussions are still needed on the criteria for maximising the amounts repaid to depositors. The fund insists any repayment framework must preserve the hierarchy of claims when losses are allocated — the legal order of who is paid first — which it says gives depositors the greatest protection. The criteria must also stay consistent with the central bank's liquidity position, banking-sector conditions, public debt sustainability and the restoration of Banque du Liban's own solvency.

A crisis that has locked savers out since 2019

Lebanon's financial collapse, which began in 2019, has locked depositors out of their own savings, shattered trust in the banks and pushed the economy towards cash. Parliament has yet to pass the law that will split the losses between the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors, and several politicians and banking representatives are contesting the bill — mainly over how much of the losses each side should bear.

In April 2022, Beirut and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement on a four-year support programme worth $3 billion, on condition that Lebanon pass financial reforms. That money was never released. Lebanon has since sped up parts of the reform track: last year Parliament passed laws reforming banking secrecy and restructuring the banks.

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber said he hoped to reach an agreement with the IMF in the first quarter of next year. The fund said it expects to continue talks with the Lebanese authorities in the coming weeks.