BEIRUT, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A senior World Bank official said on Friday that Lebanon is on the right track with the reforms approved in the 2019 state budget but the country needs to make more efforts in this regard, a statement by the prime minister's office said.
"Lebanon is doing well with its 2019 budget and the new electricity plan. We are optimistic about this but reforms should not end here," World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa Ferid Belhaj was quoted as saying following his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
"It is a continuous effort and we will continue to help Lebanon in implementing the needed reforms especially in the electricity sector," he added.
Belhaj called upon the Lebanese government to implement the investment projects funded by the World Bank.
"These investments will have positive returns for the country," he said.
The Lebanese parliament is currently discussing the 2019 state budget with a promise to reduce the deficit from 11.5 percent of GDP to 7.6 percent of GDP.
Endorsing a state budget that slashes the deficit is among the measures that the Lebanese government has pledged to take as part of the key financial and economic reforms recommended at last year's CEDRE Conference.
The CEDRE is an international conference which pledged to issue 11 billion U.S. dollars in loans and donations for Lebanon on condition that the country makes serious reforms.
