Thursday, the EU launched a 2.8 million euro in a twinning project that is supposed to reorganize the Lebanese Finance Ministry. The Finance Ministry Director General Alain Bifani, who represented Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil at the launch, said that the project is of the utmost importance. As he said, “The twinning project launched today is the first of its kind in terms of budget implementation and it is different than previous ones because it adds the expertise of Italy and not only that of France particularly in the field of training and information technology.”
Bifani cited that the major objectives of the twinning project are: “to contribute to developing a reform strategy for the management of public finance in addition to strengthening institutional capacity for macroeconomic analysis and forecasts.”
He continued to explain that, “Its objective is also to strengthen the institutional capacities of the different directorates concerned with the implementation of the budget.”
Diego Escalona Paturel, head of the cooperation section of the EU delegation to Lebanon representing head of the EU delegation Angelina Eichhorst, said that the need to move forward with structural reforms is great. As he said, “The macroeconomic situation in Lebanon has regressed over the past years. Lebanon is facing huge economic and social challenges due to the political issues prevailing in the country and the negative impact of the Syrian crisis,” he said. “This should motivate us to establish reforms.”
