The International Monetary Fund is to advance discussions with Iraq and Lebanon as part of broader efforts to support vulnerable countries in the Middle East and North Africa, its managing director has said.
Baghdad had approached the Washington-based fund for a potential programme, as the IMF continues to look at opportunities in the region, signalling it will be ready for any nation that may seek its assistance, Kristalina Georgieva said.
"We will support Iraq very firmly. We would get Iraq both money and policy support," she said at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Thailand on Saturday. She also noted IMF support in Egypt and Jordan.
"We are in very intense discussions with the Lebanese authorities," she added. "We have made significant progress towards a programme. [There is] still a bit more work to do together and I'm confident we will be successful."
Since the Iran war broke out in February, Iraq has been facing one of its most serious economic and security situations.
But Baghdad has been driving efforts to boost its standing. Last month at the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi appealed to the world to invest in Iraq as he pitched his economic and anti-corruption plans.
Lebanon, meanwhile, is heavily reliant on imports, making it more exposed to shocks such as the disruption to shipping and energy supplies caused by the regional war.
Beirut is also still dealing with the effects of the economic crisis that began in 2019. That was one of the worst in modern history, according to the World Bank, which also projected Lebanon's economy to contract by 6.4 per cent in 2026.
The IMF said this month that it would assess any potential changes to Lebanon's bank resolution law to ensure they were consistent with international standards. On Wednesday, the governor of Lebanon's central bank, Karim Souaid, told Bloomberg that he was expecting a "breakthrough" by the end of 2026 in IMF talks on the law, which stipulates it would repay depositors whose savings were entangled in the country’s financial collapse.
"Programmes for Iraq and Lebanon would go a long way," Ms Georgieva said.
She also acknowledged efforts by governments in the Gulf, whose pursuit of reforms have allowed them to "cushion the impact of the shock that has impacted them".
"It would've been much worse if ... many of them have not done reforms and been building buffers," she added.