Raya al-Hassan Holds Talks with World Bank, IMF Officials

Caretaker Finance Minister Raya al-Hassan participated in the joint semi-annual gathering of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund held in Washington, the National News Agency said Monday.

As part of her meetings last week, the minister held talks with Deputy Managing Director of the World Bank Nemat Shafik and officials from IMF’s Middle East and North Africa department, NNA said. She briefed them on the Lebanese macro-finance situation and discussed with them the Arab revolutions and their dramatic effects on the economy.

They also discussed the economic and financial repercussions of Lebanon’s political crisis, NNA said.

In separate talks with Director-General of the World Bank Sri Mulyani Indrawati, al-Hassan discussed ways to limit the effects of the soaring prices of goods on poor families.

Soon after her meeting with the World Bank’s deputy leader for Middle East and North Africa Affairs Shamshad Akhtar, al-Hassan will hold talks with the bank’s president, Robert B. Zoellick, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn, NNA added.