by dailystar.com.lb –Emily Lewis– BEIRUT: Lebanese residents are taking matters into their own hands to encourage investment in local products as the country plunges deeper into a financial crisis and the Lebanese pound depreciates. “Our country is like a badly managed company. It’s time for the people to help in whatever way we can to save Lebanon,” Imad Jomaa, the president of media enterprise JGroup told The Daily Star Friday. Since early November, Jomaa’s company has offered free advertising for any business offering Lebanese-made products at a discount of 50 percent. Adverts for Lebanese merchandise have appeared on billboards, online platforms and local TV channels, accompanied by the hashtag which translates into #BuyLebanese. Jomaa said that 200 companies have reached out to JGroup to benefit from the offer – 95 percent of which did not have funds to advertise, so the company helped them “showcase their products to the Lebanese audience,” Jomaa said.

JGroup’s initiative is one of many launched by Lebanese entrepreneurs, activists and NGOs to encourage people to choose Lebanese-made products in increasingly tough economic times. Last April, Sylva Abi Hanna started a Facebook page called “Buy Lebanese [products] from Lebanese [people] in Lebanese [pounds]” to encourage people to buy products made in Lebanon using the national currency. In recent weeks a lack of dollar liquidity has pushed unofficial U.S. dollar-Lebanese pound exchange rates way above the official peg of 1,507.5 that was put in place in 1997. On Thursday, the black market rate reached more than LL2,300 to the dollar at some exchange shops. The frequency of Abi Hanna’s posts increased with the start of the nationwide protests that erupted on Oct. 17, calling for end to a corrupt political class, economic mismanagement and looting of public funds. “I neglected my page for a while, but I believe now more than ever that it’s important to encourage Lebanese products from Lebanese owners. This is my way to do my part as much as I can,” Abi Hanna explained to The Daily Star.

Hers is one of dozens of similar social media campaigns promoting Lebanese alternatives to international imported products – Cafe Najjar instead of Nescafe, Balkis instead of Tropicana, Poppins instead of Kellogg’s. The 39-year-old Abi Hanna owns a small business that sells toys and household items in the Mount Lebanon village of Abeidat. She has seen firsthand the impact the economic downturn has had on small business owners. “Managers are closing their shops, but the problem is with the people. We are the ones letting [foreign companies] open businesses in Lebanon and competing with Lebanese companies,” Abi Hanna said. Lebanon’s economic woes are not a recent phenomenon, nor, as some have alleged, a result of the mass protests. The country is saddled with one of the world’s highest public debt burdens, at more than 150 percent of GDP and a predicted negative 0.2 percent growth in 2019, according to the World Bank. The Lebanese economy also heavily relies on imports. In 2018, Lebanon imported nearly $19 billion worth of products, but exported just under $3 billion, according the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon. Now, with a scarcity of dollars, these importers have warned of shortages if they are not provided with cash at the official exchange rate to make purchases from abroad. “What we are seeing now is the result of ongoing policies,” said Fadi Gemayel, the head of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists. “We are against the wall, with a lack of dollars and a lack of jobs,” he told The Daily Star. Therefore, he stressed that it was essential to invest in Lebanese industry to tackle both these problems simultaneously: by creating opportunities for tens of thousands of people and bringing much-needed currency into the economy.

The Nawaya network, an NGO that provides Lebanese youth with entrepreneurial training, has also used its social media channels to promote small, independent Lebanese businesses. It posted artistic renderings of Lebanese entrepreneurs in various fields with the caption: “If you’re looking for [Christmas] gifts, we urge you to buy local products from local artisans and craftsmen, especially youth.” Celine Akkary, Nawaya’s head of communications, said helping Lebanese craftspeople sell their products was essential to their success for a number of reasons. This would help put food on their tables, supporting their families and contributing to the stability of their business. “Beyond this, buying local means money stays within the country, which is very important given the circumstances,” she said.

Prior to the outbreak of protests and the instability sparked by the resignation of now caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Oct. 29, significant amounts of money left Lebanese banks. In the first nine months of 2019, capital outflows reached $3 billion, according to the Institute of International Finance. Another $2 billion were withdrawn between October and November, while banks were closed for more than two weeks at the end of last month and the beginning of this month. Mr. Brown, a popular American-style diner, decided to introduce more Lebanese products on their menus as the extent of the financial crisis became clear. All of their French fries, previously imported from the U.S., are now made exclusively from Lebanese potatoes. “We saw how much the economy was suffering and we asked ourselves how we could help,” Rami Fattal, the restaurant’s managing partner, told The Daily Star. However, the restaurant could not source curly fries or potato wedges that were produced in Lebanon. Therefore, waiting staff have been instructed to ask customers to “please buy the crispy French fries,” Fattal said. The Lebanese fries are priced 40 percent lower than the other potato-based products, in an effort to encourage customers to choose them. And that gets to the larger point, Fattal said: “This is not just a PR campaign.” A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on November 30, 2019, on page 1.