Lebanon Opportunities – August 2019

There must be an

organic link between the plan for

education and that for the economy

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri

I personally go through

periods of pessimism, but I

quickly calm down and return to the

basics

Prime Minister Saad Hariri

This budget has no economic vision

Gebran Bassil,

Minister of Foreign Affairs

The electricity plan is being

implemented faster than projected

Nada Boustany Khoury,

Minister of Energy and Water

We will break all records this year

Avedis Kidanian, Minister of Tourism

Some officials do not realize the

seriousness of the debt, and they still

believe that magic solutions will come

Camille Abou Sleiman,

Minister of Labor

We can’t lower the cost of telecom

because the Treasury is in need of

every dollar

Mohamed Choucair,

Minister of Telecom

No one knows the

number of public servants

Neemat Frem, MP and Chairman

of the economic committee

We are satisfied with

the budget. We encourage

tourists to come to Lebanon

Hassan Nasrallah,

Secretary General of Hezbollah

Merchants and consumers have been

ambushed. They are victims of a cold-

blooded economic assassination, using

heavy protectionist weapons and live

customs ammunition

Nicolas Chammas, Chairman of the

Beirut Traders Association

INFORMATION

BITS & BYTES

SOUND BYTES INFO BYTES

DATA BITS

O (^) $8.5 billion per year is the public payroll
O (^) Ten percent is the price drop on the
Beirut Stock Exchange during the first
half of this year
O (^) 60 percent is the ratio of foreign currency
debt over GDP
O (^) 23 percent is the drop in car sales during
the first half of the year
O (^) $1.9 billion of direct investment was
made by locals abroad last year
O (^) 125 flights arrive daily to the airport this
summer, excluding charters
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Source: The Central Bank
Source: The Central Bank
Source: The Central Bank
Source: Association of Banks
Dollarization Rate %
100 –
80 –
60 –
40 –
20 –
0
Deposits Loans
69.
2018
70.
69.
Q1’
70.
2016
72.
65.
2017
70.
68.
Interest Rates %
8 –
7 –
6 –
5 –
4 –
3 –
2 –
1 –
0
LIBOR (USD) 3-month Deposits (LL)
5.
0.
2016
6.

1. 2017


2. 
   

   2018

   
   


3. 
   


4. 
   

   Q1’

   
   


5. 
   

   In million
   Balance of Payments
   $4,000 –
   $3,000 –
   $2,000 –
   $1,000 –
   0
   -$1,000 –
   -$2,000 –
   -$3,000 –
   $4,000 –
   Q1’18 Q1’

   
   

-^2
,^00

5

2018

-^4
,^80

5

2017

-^1
56
-^1
98

In million kwh

Electricity Production

16,000 –

14,000 –

12,000 –

10,000 –

8,000 –

6,000 –

4,000 –

2,000 –

0

Q1’

3,

Q1’

3,

2017

15,

2018

15,

2 LEBANON OPPORTUNITIES, AUGUST 2019