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Britain has also helped them and announced low-interest loans totalling $170 million, while Germany is expected to raise $75 million. The United States announced a grant of $US 110 million. The Netherlands, also present, announced a $300 million granting loan. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was present with a Lebanese ministerial delegation. Nearly 50 States and international organizations participated. Representatives of the private sector and civil society contributed to this work. The diplomatic source said Paris insisted that a committee be formed by France, Britain, Canada, Jordan, the European Investment Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Lebanese Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, the Chairman of the Supreme Commission for Privatization, the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the Central Inspectorate. The IMF will likely require formal capital controls that will replace those the country`s banks have had since November, Bisat said, adding that the Fund would also seek Lebanon to devalue its currency and renounce its official attachment to the 23-year-old U.S. dollar. The international lender could also ask Lebanon to sell public assets and recapitalize its banking sector — as well as aggressively restructure its debt and reform its pension system, Bisat said. At Tuesday`s meeting at the Grand Serail, Diab stressed that his cabinet is committed to implementing the reform agenda presented by the previous government of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
Among those gathered in Paris was Saudi Arabia, whose relations with Lebanon have been strained in recent months. However, the kingdom has re-established a $1 billion line of credit for Lebanon. “Ultimately, if the Lebanese authorities do not implement far-reaching economic reforms, external funds will not be disbursed or productive for the Lebanese people,” Chris Rampling, the UK`s ambassador to Lebanon, told Al Jazeera.