In Beirut, I can no longer get American dollars out of the ATM. This is what it tells me about Lebanon’s economy

Details

by independent.co.uk -- Robert Fisk @indyvoices -- I sniffed something was wrong in Lebanon when the central bank governor Riad Salame announced to us all that there were plenty of dollars in the system. No shortages. No tightening of the purse strings. I still have the papers with his announcement on page one. Both before, during and after the 1975-1990 civil war, you’ve been able to pay for anything here in Lebanon in US dollars: dinner bills, rent, militias, guns (during the war), cars, airline tickets, groceries. The Lebanese pound fell amid the conflict but settled afterwards – courtesy of the country’s billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri – at 1,500 “lebs” to the dollar. And everyone was happy. You knew that the cheerful local currency, splashed with colourful cedar trees, Roman ruins and Phoenician figurines, was interchangeable with the greenback. General Grant’s face was equal to 75,000 lebs. We even combined them in our change.

Until I walked up the road to my local ATM last week, inserted my bank card, demanded $400, was given the usual warning that this would attract an extra $5 from the machine – and was then presented with a terse voice message: “Your transaction has been cancelled.” The accent was American, of course. I tried again, at $200. Same problem. I’ve always been enthralled by the linguistics of banking. A “transaction” has held a certain thrall for me. A transaction should surely be the purchase of a property, the buying of shares, the takeover of a mega company. But by the end of my miserable ATM trip, I put in for 400,000 Lebanese pounds ($266) and was treated to a wad of those beautiful Lebanese notes with their pictures of the Baalbek ruins, museum masterpieces and, indeed, illustrations of Salame’s Lebanese central bank. My “transaction” had been completed. In other words, there were not many dollars in the system. And this is where the Lebanese economic story starts to go downhill.

Read more ...

Hariri says UAE promised Lebanon aid after high-stakes talks

Details

BEIRUT (Reuters) By Tom Perry, Jonathan Spicer -- - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Tuesday the United Arab Emirates has promised investments and financial aid to his deeply indebted country, though work remains to seal the deal, after two days of high-stakes talks in Abu Dhabi. Hariri, who led a Lebanese delegation to the allied Gulf state, was seeking funds to stem a sharp loss of investor and depositor confidence that has pressured Lebanon’s currency and strained its lenders and central bank. While the UAE had made no announcement about funding by Tuesday evening, any sort of relief could buy Beirut time as it looks to shore up dollar reserves and begin enacting fiscal reforms it has long promised with little progress. “The Emiratis promised investments and financial assistance,” he was quoted as saying in an official transcript of his comments to reporters in Abu Dhabi.

While the talks with the Emiratis were positive, Beirut “has to do some things to encourage them” to invest in Lebanon, Hariri added, without providing details. “We are negotiating with them the investments they want to make in various sectors, in addition to financial investments in some banks or in the central bank,” he was quoted as saying in the transcript published by his office. Faced with one of the world’s highest debt burdens, low growth and crumbling infrastructure, Beirut has vowed to implement long-delayed reforms to narrow its budget and current-account deficits, though little has so far been done. The country, which has a debt-to-GDP ratio around 150%, is also seeking to reverse a sharp loss of confidence in the Lebanese pound. Its central bank has been drawing down its foreign exchange reserves to repay the state’s maturing debt, and has promised to do more.

Read more ...

Ghosn is getting fit for the fight of his life

Details

by europe.autonews.com -HANS GREIMEL- TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn, still barred from leaving Japan as he awaits trial on financial misconduct charges, spends his days convening not only with lawyers but also his personal trainer. It is no coincidence the indicted former Nissan chairman is working out, walking and bicycling to regain weight he lost during his 129 days of lockup in Tokyo. To hear his wife, Carole Ghosn, tell it, the fallen auto legend is gearing up for the battle of his life, not unlike a boxer in training for a big fight. "He's healthy in body and mind. He's getting weight again, and he's combative," Carole said in a phone interview last week. "He's ready to defend himself and prove his innocence."

One thing 65-year-old Carlos will not be doing is pleading his case in public anytime soon. Carole says plans for a long-anticipated news conference are on indefinite pause because his advisers fear reprisals from prosecutors. Carlos, she notes, was arrested and jailed in April just a day after he, then free on bail, took to Twitter to say he would hold a presser. "He's not going to speak out. He's scared," Carole said in a wide-ranging talk with Automotive News. "No more press conference. After what happened to him last time, it was a very clear signal that 'You keep your mouth shut.' " Carlos remains on a short leash of stringent bail conditions that restrict everything from his Internet access to his contact with his wife — the couple is barred from direct communication. Running afoul of prosecutors, she said, invites even closer scrutiny. "He's not going to shoot himself in the foot," said Carole, adding that she only hears how Carlos is doing through third parties such as lawyers. "He's not going to do anything when he's under their control and speak out against them when they can very easily find any excuse to put him in detention," she said. Carole said she hasn't seen her husband since April 4 and that five applications to visit him were rejected. The Tokyo prosecutor has opposed a meeting, citing a risk of evidence tampering. Carole counters that barring contact is a warrantless pressure tactic for strong-arming a confession.

Read more ...

UAE lifts travel ban to Lebanon

Details

by middleeasteye.net --The United Arab Emirates will allow its citizens to travel to Lebanon, lifting a 2016 ban that came in support of Saudi Arabia's anti-Hezbollah policies. Emirati official news agency WAM announced the decision on Monday during a visit by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to Abu Dhabi. Hariri is leading a delegation of officials to the Emirates, seeking aid for Lebanon's struggling economy at the UAE-Lebanon Investment Forum. The Emirati travel ban came in support of Riyadh in February 2016, a month after Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in response to the execution of Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. At the time, Saudi Arabia cancelled aid to the Lebanese army over the growing influence of Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, on the government in Beirut.

Read more ...

Saudi Crown Prince "Snubbed" Pakistani PM Imran Khan, Recalled Jet Flying Him: Report

Details

by ndtv.com --ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani magazine has claimed that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was "alienated" with "some dimensions" of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's actions on the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York last month, that he ordered his "private jet to disembowel the Pakistani delegation" as a consequence. Before attending the 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Mr Khan had first visited Saudi Arabia. While departing for New York from Jeddah, the Saudi Crown Prince stopped Mr Khan from embarking a commercial flight to the US and asked him to fly onboard his private jet as he could not let his guest travel in a commercial plane, Pakistani media reports had said. But while Mr Khan was returning to Islamabad from New York on September 28, it was reported that the Saudi plane developed a technical glitch following which the Prime Minister and his delegation returned to New York and then took a commercial flight back to Pakistan.

Read more ...

Saudi Arabia allows foreign men and women to share hotel rooms

Details

RIYADH By Reuters - Stephen Kalin - Saudi Arabia is allowing foreign men and women to rent hotel rooms together without proving they are related, after the conservative Muslim kingdom launched a new tourist visa regime to attract holidaymakers. Women, including Saudis, are also permitted to rent hotel rooms by themselves, in a break with previous regulations. The moves appear to pave the way for unaccompanied women to travel more easily and for unmarried foreign visitors to stay together in the Gulf state, where sex outside of marriage is banned. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage confirmed a report on Friday by Arabic-language newspaper Okaz, adding: “All Saudi nationals are asked to show family ID or proof of relationship on checking into hotels. This is not required of foreign tourists. All women, including Saudis, can book and stay in hotels alone, providing ID on check-in.”

Saudi Arabia threw open its doors last week to foreign tourists from 49 countries as it tries to grow that sector and diversify its economy away from oil exports. As part of the move, it decreed that visitors need not wear all-covering black robes but should dress modestly. Alcohol remains banned. Saudi Arabia has been relatively closed off for decades and until recently unrelated men and women, including foreigners, could be severely punished for mixing in public. Strict social codes have been relaxed in recent years and previously banned entertainment has flourished. But an influx of tourists — the authorities are aiming for 100 million annual visits by 2030 — could push boundaries further and risks conservative backlash. The kingdom ended a heavily criticized ban on women driving last year and in August granted women new rights to travel abroad, chipping away at a guardianship system that assigns each woman a male relative to approve important decisions throughout their lives.

Read more ...