Lebanese Leaders Meet to Find Solution to Economic Crisis

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by aawsat.com -- Lebanon's political leaders met Monday with the aim of finding a solution to the country's economic crisis, raising concerns that more taxes will be imposed. Lebanon has one of the world's highest public debts in the world, standing at 150% of GDP. Growth has plummeted and budget deficit reached 11% of GDP as economic activities slowed and remittances from Lebanese living abroad shrank. The government hopes to bring down the budget deficit to 7.6 percent of the GDP this year and to 6.5 percent in 2020. The meeting at the presidential palace is to discuss measures to be taken in the near future and as part of the 2020 draft budget. President Michel Aoun said in a speech at the opening of the one-day session that everyone should make "sacrifices" in order to get one of the world's most indebted countries out of its problems. "We have to unite our efforts to come out with solutions to the economic crisis that is strangling the dreams and hopes of our people," Aoun said. No official details about the expected measures have been made public but economists who took part in preparatory talks for Monday's meeting said they included raising tax on gasoline, boosting the value added tax from 11 to 15 percent on luxury items, as well as fighting tax evasion. The meeting came 10 days after international ratings agency Fitch downgraded Lebanon's ratings and as tensions on the border with Israel increased in recent days. Hezbollah on Sunday fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles in retaliation for an airstrike that targeted the group in Syria and an alleged Israeli drone attack south of Beirut late last month.

The recent developments have led for the first time in years for the US dollar to reach 1,560 Lebanese pounds on the black market, compared with the 1,500 that has been fixed since 1997. Corruption-plagued Lebanon suffers from one of the world's highest debt ratios, high unemployment and little growth. In July, Lebanon's parliament ratified a controversial austerity budget that aims to save the indebted economy. Last month, Standard & Poor's Global Ratings maintained its long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings, saying the country's outlook remains negative. In January, Moody's downgraded Lebanon's issuer ratings to Caa1 from B3 while changing the outlook to stable from negative.

We have no missile factories in Lebanon: Nasrallah

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by dailystar.com.lb -- BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Saturday denied Israeli claims about his party having factories to produce precision-guided missiles in Lebanon, saying such "lies" were an attempt to justify Israeli attacks against the country. In a televised speech Nasrallah said Hezbollah possessed precision-guided missiles but not the factories to produce them. "We do not have factories to produce precision-guided missiles in Lebanon," he said. He spoke a week after Israel crash-landed two drones in Hezbollah-dominated southern Beirut. One of the drones landed on the roof of Hezbollah's media office while another exploded and crashed nearby, causing a fire and damage to buildings. Hezbollah said both drones were armed with explosives and were carrying out an attack mission.

Israeli media reported that early this week, Israeli drones targeted a Beirut facility housing a "planetary mixer," a large industrial machine that is critical to making missiles. Israel's prime minister accused Iran and Hezbollah of racing to build a missile-production program in Lebanon, vowing to destroy the ambitious project and issuing a stern warning to his enemies to "be careful." The threats ratcheted up an already tense standoff that has pushed the bitter adversaries closer toward open, armed conflict in recent weeks. Nasrallah said Netanyahu was looking for pretexts to hit Lebanon. He said it is Hezbollah's "right" to have such factories, "but we have nothing of the sort." He also reiterated his group's intention to retaliate for the Israeli attack, saying Israel "must pay a price" for its aggression. "All the threats and intimidations will not prevent the retaliation of the resistance," he said. The timing and scale of Hezbollah's response, he added, was in the hands of field commanders.

Lebanese central bank's forex reserves increase

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BEIRUT,  (Xinhua) -- Lebanese central bank's foreign exchange reserves increased by 1.4 billion U.S. dollars during the second half of August to reach 38.66 billion dollars at the end of the month. "This increase is due to the influx of deposits from the non-resident private sector directly to the central bank," a statement by the central bank's governor said on Friday. The statement said that this increase ensures the solvency of Lebanon and strengthens the stability of the Lebanese pound while reducing the balance of payments deficits. The governor's remarks came a day after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Lebanese Jammal Trust Bank. The U.S. Treasury on Thursday sanctioned Lebanese Jammal Trust Bank for "brazenly enabling" Hezbollah's financial activities. The bank issued a statement on Friday denying the U.S. Treasury Department's accusations. "The bank is strictly committed to rules and regulations of Lebanon's central bank and international rules on countering money laundering and financing of terrorism," the statement said.

U.S. sanctions Lebanese bank for supporting Hezbollah

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 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned a Lebanese bank for connections to Hezbollah on Thursday. The agency announced the sanctions against Jammal Trust Bank and its subsidiaries for “brazenly enabling” the financial activities of Hezbollah, which the United States has designated as a terrorist organization. “Corrupt financial institutions like Jammal Trust are a direct threat to the integrity of the Lebanese financial system,” Sigal Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said. “Jammal Trust provides support and services to Hezbollah’s Executive Council and the Martyrs Foundation which funnels money to the families of suicide bombers.” In a second action Thursday, the Treasury Department also sanctioned four individuals for supporting Hamas. The agency sanctioned Mohammad Sarur, Kamal Abdelrahman Aref Awad and Fawaz Mahmud Ali Nasser for funneling tens of millions of dollars from Iran through Hezbollah to Hamas for attacks in the Gaza Strip. “This administration will not falter to hold Hamas and its Iranian leaders accountable for their violence,” Mandelker said. “Treasury will continue to disrupt terrorist networks by targeting those who generate funds to carry out the Iranian regime’s violent agenda.”

Is Lebanese icon Fairuz a fading voice?

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by esquireme.com -Chris Cotonou- It might be nothing, or it might just be the perfect metaphor. On a usually busy corner of Armenia Street in Beirut, a mural depicting the iconic Lebanese singer Fairuz is now semi-hidden, obscured by plant pots, chairs and scribbled graffiti. I point it out from a busy bar across the street and Salma, a 22-year-old Beirut student, half-smiles and muses “I hadn’t noticed it before, but I’m not surprised.” The short pause in our conversation is replaced with a pulsating American club track bluring out of the bar’s speakers. “Not a lot of people my age would admit they listen to Fairuz these days. She is our parent’s generation,” says Salma. The street art is the work of Yazan Halwani who—along with other artists such as Sabah and Khalil Gibran—sought to fill Beirut with murals of Lebanese cultural icons they believed would inspire and unite the next generation. As the Arab-world’s best-selling singers Fairuz is undoubtedly one of those icons. In Lebanon and abroad she remains a representative of the country’s identity. As Halwani once put it “she’s a symbol of Lebanese identity not soured by sectarianism”. “Not a lot of people my age would admit they listen to Fairuz these days. She is our parent’s generation”

As a transcendent star stitched into the tapestry of Arabic pop-culture, her popularity has spawned a rather unique tradition where many Lebanese families, taxi drivers, and workers start their days with her music. On Spotify and YouTube you can find popular playlists titled ‘Fairuz Morning Songs’ created specifically for this ritual. Although, today with the maturing of a new generation, people like Salma believe that perhaps it has now had its time. “That is something our parents do,” she says, “but that won’t be happening in 10 years, at least not in Beirut.” While a shift in tastes is not particularly dramatic—new generations have always sought music styles that will define and differentiate them from their elders—it is Fairuz’s longevity that is impressive. “These days people have no respect for the classics. Kids today would rather listen to trash! They forget what we fought for to get here.” With a career spanning 50 years, and more than 150 million records sold, Fairuz has been three types of icon to three generations: the first during the glamour and optimism of the Golden Age; then to that generation’s children, who either heard her from abroad, or amidst the sounds of sobbing and ammunition; and finally following the war when her image became a de facto matriarch of a new Lebanon looking for reinvention. For three generations, she has remained relevant.

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Defense Council: Lebanese Have Right to Self-Defense, National Unity Best Weapon

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by naharnet.com --Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council on Tuesday stressed “the right of the Lebanese to defend themselves with all means against any aggression,” in the wake of Israel’s latest drone attacks in the country. “This is a right that is enshrined in the U.N. Charter,” the Council added in a statement, emphasizing that “national unity remains the best weapon in the face of the aggression.” The meeting was chaired by President Michel Aoun and attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs and finance, and the heads of security agencies. “The President underlined the need to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity because it is a legitimate right,” the statement added. Prime Minister Saad Hariri meanwhile told the Council that a complaint against Israel has been filed with the U.N. Security Council via the Foreign ministry. Hariri also briefed the Council on his contacts with the international community, noting that “this is the first attack of its kind since 2006 and the first violation through which Israel seeks to change the rules of engagement.” Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Hariri said: "I reassure you that there is nothing to worry about and we only fear God."

TV networks meanwhile said the Council decided to regulate "the import, purchase and sale of drone cameras." A ministerial source told LBCI television that "Hizbullah said that it will respond to the Israeli attack and the Higher Defense Council said that it took note of the response which will be appropriate and proportionate." One drone came down and another exploded early Sunday in a Hizbullah stronghold in the southern Beirut suburb of Mouawad, damaging a Hizbullah media center and lightly injuring three people who were in the building. On Monday, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command reported an overnight Israeli drone attack on its base in the Lebanese eastern border region of Qusaya. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had on Sunday vowed to "do everything" to thwart Israeli drone attacks in Lebanon, threatening to down any unmanned aircraft that violates Lebanon’s airspace. He also pledged to retaliate from Lebanon against an Israeli airstrike that killed two Hizbullah members in Syria. SourceNaharnet