BEIRUT, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh revealed on Friday that Lebanon had 286 tonnes of gold reserves valued at 17.5 billion U.S. dollars at the end of February, the Elnashra news agency reported.
Salameh said the reserves represent the second-largest gold reserves held by a country in the Arab region.
Meanwhile, the governor said that the Lebanese foreign reserves reached 12.748 billion dollars at the end of February.
He pointed out that "what happened to the financial sector in Lebanon is addressed in the recovery plan being prepared by the Lebanese government in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," praising the "initial agreement that was achieved between the Lebanese government and the fund."
The IMF reached Thursday a staff-level agreement with Lebanon to provide the country with 3 billion dollars in a 46-month financing program. ■
