$330M Injection Spurs Speculation: Beware of Fake Apps!
Maurice Matta 02/10 11:54 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
On October 1, 2024, a new directive from acting Lebanese Central Bank (BDL) Governor Wassim Mansouri, following a Central Council resolution on September 25, 2024, came into force. The order compels banks to triple cash withdrawal limits for beneficiaries of Circulars 158 and 166 throughout October. This exceptional, one-time decision ...
Central Bank's Safeguards Assessment: Key Findings
Maurice Matta 18/09 09:06 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Lebanon’s Central Bank (BDL) is making progress with the Safeguards Assessment Program, signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year. The program centers on revising accounting policies, financial reporting and disclosures to uphold the highest standards of governance and transparency. The Safeguards Assessment Program, ...
Mikati’s Failure to Publish Legislation: A Legal Breach?
Maurice Matta 16/09 11:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
The Parliament approved 14 laws during its sessions on December 14 and 15, 2023. On December 19, the Cabinet decided to issue these laws on behalf of the President. Later on, the caretaker Prime Minister published 11 of them in the Official Gazette, while withholding three: one amending provisions related to private school teaching staff ...
Teachers on Strike, Ministry of Education Cracks Down
Maurice Matta 14/09 16:22 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati continues to refuse to issue a decree to appoint a new board of directors for the Compensation Fund, despite repeated calls from the teachers' union. The union believes this decree would enable the Fund to start over, allowing for a financial rescue plan to protect teachers' compensations and gradually ...
FATF's Grey List: Transactions With Correspondent Banks Wont be Affected
Maurice Matta 12/09 18:38 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Wassim Mansouri, the Acting Governor of Lebanon's Central Bank (BDL) has concluded his meetings with correspondent banks in London, returning with reassurances that these institutions will continue to cooperate with Lebanon, regardless of the anticipated decision by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) on October 24. However, the risk of Lebanon ...
Correspondent Banks: Transfers Safe Despite Potential Grey Listing
Maurice Matta 05/09 16:38 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Wassim Mansouri, Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL), is meeting in London with officials from correspondent banks that interact with Lebanese banks. The goal is to address potential impacts of any negative decisions taken by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ahead of its crucial meeting to assess countries' compliance with ...
General Confederation of Lebanese Workers Calls for Salary Increase
Maurice Matta 28/08 16:07 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
On March 19, 2024, the Index Committee at the Ministry of Labor approved increasing the minimum wage from LBP 9 million to LBP 18 million per month, with the consent of economic bodies and the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers. Following this, the Ministry drafted a decree to implement the wage increase and submitted it to the State ...
Judge Saliba: Immediate Eviction in Non-Residential Rental Case
Maurice Matta 21/08 09:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
On December 26, 2023, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati signed eleven out of fourteen laws approved by Parliament on December 14 and 15. He withheld his signature from the remaining three laws, citing the need to review them at the next Cabinet session to explore constitutional options. The General Directorate of the Presidency of the Council ...
What if Lebanon Is Placed on FATF’s Gray List?
Maurice Matta 14/08 09:43 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Wassim Mansuri, the Acting Governor of Lebanon's Central Bank (BDL), is set to travel to Washington, D.C., in the first week of September, in an attempt to shield Lebanon from being placed on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) gray list, which monitors countries for financial crimes. His visit comes just days before a critical meeting where ...
A Tsunami Hits Global Markets: Is the US Economy Heading into a Recession?
Maurice Matta 07/08 09:17 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
A major tsunami hit global markets at the beginning of the week, driven by fears that the US, the world’s largest economy, is heading towards a recession. This followed Thursday night’s disclosure of official data regarding unemployment figures, which indicated that an unexpectedly high number of Americans were jobless. These figures ...
Rental Law: The Extension Period Officially Ended!
Maurice Matta 29/07 17:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Civil Judge Alaa Bashir, overseeing rental disputes in Metn, issued a ruling declaring the nine-year extension period under the new rental law to end on December 28, 2023. The ruling states that the tenant will be residing without legal justification after this date and orders him to vacate the rented property and return it vacant to the ...
Lebanon’s Reserves Over $10.2B: Will Dollar Withdrawal Limits Rise?
Maurice Matta 23/07 11:46 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Since August 1, 2023, Lebanon’s Central Bank (BDL) liquid foreign currency reserves have steadily increased from $8.573 billion to $9.9 billion by June 2024, marking an average monthly growth of $120 million under the new leadership. This development occurs under Lebanon's Central Bank policy of not financing the government with currencies, ...
When the Lebanese State Embraces Mendicancy
Maurice Matta 15/07 17:35 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
On Thursday morning, caretaker Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayad announced that he received a call from the Director General of SOMO, the Iraqi Oil Ministry's company, informing him that the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammad al-Sudani, had permitted to load a fuel ship in solidarity with Lebanon and its people, allowing for the unloading of ...
Crucial Juncture for ABL Elections
Maurice Matta 09/07 14:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
The Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) is preparing to elect its new board of directors next Wednesday. Consensus has historically shaped the outcome of each election, and this year's electoral process is equally critical, mirroring the importance of the two previous ones, given the precise circumstances, ongoing presidential vacancy, financial ...
All Hopes Allowed
Maurice Matta 01/07 11:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Some call it schizophrenia, others call it adaptation to reality, while some describe it as economic resistance. However, regardless of the term, what Lebanon, which has suffered from an economic and financial crisis characterized by the World Bank as one of the most severe crises globally since the mid-19th century, is experiencing, bears many ...
144 Brands Will Return to the Souks of Beirut by November 2024
Maurice Matta 24/06 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
In Beirut, the souks in the downtown area are preparing for the reopening of numerous commercial establishments that closed their doors following the economic and financial crisis, the subsequent popular upheaval, and the devastating explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, which caused considerable damage to shops and markets. Hopes ...
Commercial Leases: Will the State Council Suspend Mikati's Decision?
Maurice Matta 05/06 23:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
commercial Constitution Council of Ministers
In an important development in the commercial leases dossier, on May 30 the State Council adopted a preliminary ruling, numbered 215, to reject an appeal against another preliminary ruling it had made on April 4, 2024, numbered 160, in which it had suspended the application of a government decision. That decision referred back to parliament the ...
Lebanon: Promising Blocks Attract Investments
Maurice Matta 27/05 08:27 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
So far, TotalEnergies Group's report on drilling and exploration results in Block 9, southern Lebanon, remains unpublished, albeit the legal deadline passing for TotalEnergies to submit it to the Lebanese State represented by the Ministry of Energy. Drilling operations in the mentioned block ceased in mid-October 2023, and despite Minister Walid ...
BDL’s Strategy to Tackle Deposit Crisis: An Increase in Withdrawal Exchange Rate?
Maurice Matta 20/05 12:20 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
The official exchange rate of 89,500 Lebanese pounds to one US dollar is recognized by the Lebanese Central Bank (BDL) as the unified exchange rate, which banks are required to use when drafting their financial statements and periodic reports. This rate aligns with the parallel market exchange rate. BDL’s Acting Governor, Wassim Mansouri, keeps ...
Teachers' Pay at Risk Due to Fund Employees’ Strike
Maurice Matta 20/04 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
In a noteworthy development, employees of the Compensation Fund for Educational Staff in private schools apologized for suspending all reviews for two days. This action underscores the financial difficulties that the fund has been encountering since 2019, with its monetary revenues declining and depreciating in the Lebanese currency, compounded by ...
Critical Weeks for Lebanon's IMF Agreement
Maurice Matta 08/04 16:28 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
The European Union's stance is in line with that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding recent indications and developments in Lebanon, including the passage of the 2024 budget within constitutional deadlines, reforms to banking secrecy laws and stabilization of the exchange rate in the parallel market. These developments signal that ...
Two Years After IMF Agreement: No Deposit Disposal!
Maurice Matta 07/04 12:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Today, April 7, marks the second anniversary of the agreement signed between the Lebanese government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation at the Presidential Palace in the presence of former President Michel Aoun. The signing took place under his auspices, as he exercised his constitutional prerogative. As president, he is ...
Rental Law Contracts: LBP 1515 Challenges the Good Faith Principle
Maurice Matta 26/03 12:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Recently, Antoine el-Hajj, the sole civil judge presiding over rental disputes in Jounieh, issued a ruling directly addressing the deadlines outlined in the Rental Law. This decision explained the legal validity of the law since 2014, thereby confirming the enforceability of the nine-year grace period from that point onwards, which expired ...
Will Private Schools Be Able to Pay Teachers' Raises?
Maurice Matta 02/03 11:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
The agreement, approved by the caretaker government, between the Teachers' Syndicate and the Federation of Private Educational Institutions under the auspices of the Ministry of Education for financing the indemnity fund (amounting to 100 billion Lebanese Pounds) for the teaching community has enabled the fund to pay salary increases to retired ...
Chaotic Exchange Rate: Will the MOF Transition to 25,000 LBP?
Maurice Matta 20/02 10:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
A recent decision of the State Council was accepted following a review by the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), which nullified the government's directive in the financial recovery plan to cancel the Lebanese Central Bank (BDL) obligations in foreign currencies to banks. This decision dealt a significant blow to caretaker Prime Minister ...
The State Council Delivers a Heavy Blow to Mikati’s Plan!
Maurice Matta 13/02 22:59 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
In its final "constitutional" session before transitioning into a caretaker government, on May 20, 2022, Najib Mikati’s Cabinet endorsed a plan for financial and economic recovery. It included a document titled "Strategy for Financial Sector Revitalization," which, in its third clause, outlined the cancelation of a significant portion of the ...
No Looming Solutions for Telecom Employees!
Maurice Matta 11/02 17:36 - Reading : 8 minute(s)
No signs of a solution loom on the horizon for the escalating crisis between the Caretaker Minister of Telecommunications, Johnny Corm, and the unions of employees of the telecommunications companies in Lebanon, Alfa and Touch. So far, the Minister has refused to sign the new collective labor contract requested by the employees, arguing that given ...
2024 Budget Appeal on Burning Soil
Maurice Matta 06/02 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
As expected, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri signed the draft law for the 2024 budget and transferred it to the Caretaker Prime Minister. All eyes are now on the final budget draft, which will most probably be published in the official gazette this week. According to certain information, the Lebanese Forces bloc formed a smaller parliamentary ...
Final Negotiations Around Circular 151
Maurice Matta 02/02 12:07 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
All eyes are on the meeting of the Central Council of the Banque du Liban, scheduled for today, led by the vice-governor Wassim Mansouri, alongside council members. The agenda for this meeting, initially set for Wednesday and rescheduled due to some members' travel, includes the amendment of Circular 151 after extensive weeks of discussions and ...
Budget 2024: No Reforms, No Vision, Only Taxes and Fees
Maurice Matta 29/01 13:31 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
The Lebanese Parliament approved last weekend, within the constitutional timeframe, the draft budget law for the year 2024, after bringing in the necessary amendments. However, the draft law neglected to include crucial reforms that could help the country come out of its financial collapse. The Parliament-approved budget underwent a thorough ...