WASHINGTON, April 10 (UPI) -- Lebanon has secured a loan worth about $76.8 million from the International Monetary Fund to rebuild its economy.
The IMF's executive board approved the emergency post-conflict assistance package late Monday to ensure financial stability in the country, in addition to containing its budget deficit and to start up structural reforms that are needed to implement the government's medium-term reform program.
The aid package "would provide an appropriate support for the transitional challenges of moving from post-conflict situation to a program of fiscal adjustment starting in 2008," an IMF spokesperson said, adding that the emergency post-conflict assistance is "a key part of a concerted international effort to provide financial assistance to Lebanon."
The country currently has a debt level of about $40 billion, and the latest IMF loan, which will be available immediately, is expected to be part of a larger package from the international agency to be implemented next year.
