BEIRUT, March 2 (Xinhua) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) emphasized the need for Lebanon to approve some legislation before presenting the fund-supported reforms program to the IMF’s Executive Board for final approval, Lebanon’s Council of Ministers, the country’s executive body, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement was released during a two-day visit by an IMF team to Beirut to outline the next steps for reaching an agreement on the IMF program.

According to the statement, the IMF team and the Lebanese authorities agreed on the need of “undertaking macroeconomic reforms in the areas of medium-term fiscal adjustment, financial sector reform, and exchange rate unification, in addition to implementing structural reforms in areas such as poverty alleviation, governance, and electricity, among others.”

The two parties also agreed that any delay in implementing the necessary reforms and enacting accompanying legislation will increase the cost of adjustment in the future, the statement noted.

In the second half of March, a full IMF mission could visit Lebanon to resume discussions on a fund-supported program.

On Jan. 24, Lebanon began the first round of official talks with the IMF, in the hopes of unlocking aid for the crisis-stricken country.

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