An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation kicked off talks in Beirut Wednesday as part of a two-week mission aimed at securing progress towards funding for crisis-hit Lebanon. The government is hoping to secure a rescue package to exit a deep financial crisis that started in 2019 and has seen most of the country’s population fall into poverty. “We hope that a preliminary deal will be reached after two weeks of discussions,” Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami, who heads Lebanon’s delegation to the IMF, told AFP. Lebanon defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in 2020. The IMF, whi…