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.