Economy

Alfa and Touch on Strike
Alfa and Touch on Strike

In a letter sent to employees on Monday, the union of cell phone operators Alfa and Touch announced "a complete work stoppage starting this afternoon." It demanded that employees' salaries be adjusted and paid in full in fresh dollars and that the collective labor agreement be signed. The union pointed out that negotiations have been going on for ...

Maroun Chammas: Fuel Is Available, but Prices May Increase!
Maroun Chammas: Fuel Is Available, but Prices May Increase!

President of the Association of Petroleum Importing Companies Maroun Chammas reassured people that "gasoline is available," in response to citizens' fears of gas stations' rationing. However, in an interview on Sunday with local channel MTV, Chammas warned that events in the Red Sea could affect Lebanon, "where we could see an increase in fuel ...

Banque du Liban: Circular 151 Amended
Banque du Liban: Circular 151 Amended

The acting governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL), Wassim Mansouri, communicated on Saturday the amendments made to Circular 151 through a new circular, Circular 166. Following Friday's meeting of the BDL Central Council, Mansouri announced two decisions concerning the repayment of foreign currency deposits and the conversion of foreign ...

New NSSF Policies Facing Employer Discontent
New NSSF Policies Facing Employer Discontent

On Friday, Mohamad Karaki, the Director-General of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), made a pivotal decision to set the exchange rate at 89,500 Lebanese pounds per one dollar for calculating contributions from NSSF members who receive their salaries, either in full or in part, in foreign currencies. This adjustment becomes effective as of ...

Final Negotiations Around Circular 151
Final Negotiations Around Circular 151

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 ...

Fuel Crisis: Deliveries Set to Resume in the Next Hours
Fuel Crisis: Deliveries Set to Resume in the Next Hours

Twenty-four hours after the Association of Oil Importing Companies declared the suspension of fuel deliveries in protest against the 10% exceptional tax levied on businesses benefiting from the subsidy policy introduced by the state in 2020 and 2021, a solution seems to be looming on the horizon. The president of the association, Maroun Chammas, ...

Circular 151: New Directives to Be Issued Friday
Circular 151: New Directives to Be Issued Friday

Wassim Mansouri, the Central Bank's (BDL) Acting Governor, will set off to Riyadh on Monday upon a special invitation to participate in a conference on regional financial stability. But before he leaves, he is scheduled to finalize, on Friday, the details of a new directive with BDL’s Central Council. This directive allows depositors who were ...

Who Exploited the Dollars Allocated for Subsidized Products?
Who Exploited the Dollars Allocated for Subsidized Products?

The destiny of the Finance Law remains uncertain. Every budgetary article voted by Parliament is subject to invalidation appeal before the Constitutional Council once the text is promulgated and published in the Official Gazette. Before the final version of the 2024 budget was released, an outcry erupted over an article that was introduced during ...

Outcry Over Covert 'Extraordinary Tax' in Budget
Outcry Over Covert 'Extraordinary Tax' in Budget

A 10% "extraordinary tax" imposed on businesses benefiting from the government's subsidy policy, introduced at the last minute into the 2024 budget, sparked widespread anger. Unions and economic organizations alike denounce it as an arbitrary and, mostly, “unfair” penalty. After oil-importing companies suspended fuel deliveries since ...

Fuel: A New Crisis?
Fuel: A New Crisis?

Fuel importing companies will hold a press conference on Wednesday at 3 PM to explain the reasons behind the decision taken on the previous day to suspend the delivery of gasoline, diesel and gas starting the following day. They contest the "exceptional tax" of 10% imposed on the total turnover of oil importing companies over a period of two ...

Real Estate: Increase in Surface Area Owned by Foreigners
Real Estate: Increase in Surface Area Owned by Foreigners

The purchase of property by foreigners has seen a slight increase in recent years, despite Lebanon's current crisis, according to data from the General Directorate of land registry. Information International, a Beirut-based research consultancy, notes that the area owned by non-Lebanese was 38,677,856 m² at the end of 2019. By the end of 2023, ...

Hospitals Ask to Be Exempted From the Fuel Importers' Strike
Hospitals Ask to Be Exempted From the Fuel Importers' Strike

The Union of Private Hospitals called on oil-importing companies to exempt hospitals from their decision to suspend fuel deliveries. In a statement published on Wednesday, it called on the companies to "immediately supply them with fuel, in order to preserve patients' lives." The union also warned of "the serious repercussions of this decision ...