Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Monday said that the Lebanese government should send a "clear message of seriousness” by ensuring that the 2019 state budget is ratified by the Parliament soon, with a deficit reduced from 11.5% to 7.6%.

The minister told Reuters that a delegation from the International Monetary Fund had arrived in Lebanon to set out a report on the financial and monetary situation in the country.

In other comments made via MTV, the minister said that an agreement to issue low interest rate treasury bonds is expected to begin soon, saying that this move would help reduce the debt servicing costs in the 2019 budget.

The minister explained that the issuance of treasury bonds valued at 11,000 billion Lebanese pounds ($7.3 billion) will begin soon soon, stressing that this matter is consensual.