by voanews.com — Dale Gavlak — AMMAN, JORDAN – Prime Minister Hassan Diab says Lebanon, now suffering from an acute financial crunch and facing a COVID-19 outbreak, is also at risk of starvation. He warns that the multiple crises could spark a new migration to Europe and is asking the United States and Europe for financial help. The financial crisis is on a scale never seen before in the country. Inflation, poverty and unemployment have soared in Lebanon in recent months, with prices of goods doubling in many cases. Diab says the crisis could result in people being unable to buy bread, a staple. Analyst Michael Young says there are only two ways ahead for Lebanon. One is to carry out overdue reforms that will permit the International Monetary Fund to provide $10 billion in the first phase of a bailout plan. Young says he believes it is the only available key to unlocking wider foreign aid from the World Bank and the West. The other choice, he told The National newspaper, is to follow the path leading to “bankruptcy, state collapse, chaos, possibly famine, and mass emigration.”

Professor Habib Malik of the Lebanese American University says reforms are badly needed, telling VOA that Lebanon faces difficult, stark choices that won’t be easy to enact. “Lebanon is suffering from multiple, very profound challenges,” he said. “We know the IMF is not a charitable organization. They will come with all kinds of very austere conditions. This will translate into suffering for those who did not cause the problem but who have received the short end of the stick. The same political class who did all of this is just going to hang around. It’s the same criminal political class that got us here.”

by bloomberg.com — Dana Khraiche — Lebanese banks are urging the government to sell state assets and defer maturities to avoid defaulting on its domestic debt and driving the country’s finances into an even deeper crisis. The Association of Banks in Lebanon made the recommendations in a response to the economic recovery plan the government is discussing with the International Monetary Fund after seeking $10 billion in assistance. Defaulting on domestic debt would “plunge Lebanon’s output to a level somewhere beyond Yemen’s and Cambodia’s and our people would be impoverished for the next decade,” Salim Sfeir, head of the banking lobby, said during a parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday.

The government defaulted on $30 billion of Eurobonds in March and is now seeking to hold talks with bondholders, mainly local banks, to revamp its debt. That’s fueling concern among lenders that they may be driven to the wall. The country’s crisis has been years in the making, but financial conditions deteriorated rapidly in 2019 as political upheaval toppled the government of Premier Saad Hariri and foreign currency reserves began to run low, forcing businesses to turn to money changers for dollars they need to pay for imports. The banks are proposing that the government create a $40 billion “defeasance fund” that could settle its debt to the central bank “fairly,” according to a document seen by Bloomberg. 

The fund would issue long-dated and interest-bearing securities to the central bank in exchange for a final settlement of the government’s debt. Lenders have parked more than half of their liquidity at the central bank, which holds about $34 billion in local currency debt. Banks would also negotiate a “relief package” on domestic bonds by offering significant coupon reductions through a voluntary debt exchange. They hold domestic debit valued at $14 billion. “This default-avoiding internal exchange can be executed both quickly and smoothly in the interest of all stakeholders,” according to the document. “Avoiding an internal default would indeed preserve existing and future depositors’ confidence.”

by middleeasteye.net — Adam Chamseddine — Lebanese waste-management company RAMCO has reached a temporary agreement with hundreds of migrant workers to slightly increase their salaries after a weeks-long strike against a cut in their wages, the Bangladeshi embassy in Beirut has said. Around 400 foreign workers, mostly from Bangladesh and India, took a stand against RAMCO more than a month ago after the company began slashing their wages and paying them in the local Lebanese currency rather than US dollars. Since Lebanon’s unprecedented financial crisis late last year, the Lebanese pound has lost a staggering 60 percent of its value.

With the currency currently trading at LL4,200 to the dollar, but RAMCO pegging the conversion to the official exchange rate of LL1,500 Lebanese pounds, it now takes almost three times as many pounds to buy the same amount of dollars. Feeling the pinch, dozens of workers held a protest outside the company’s storage site in Beirut last week, blocking waste collection trucks from leaving the building. Video of riot police violently suppressing the protest were widely shared online. Armored police, which were summoned by the company, could be seen beating the foreign workers with sticks and using tear gas to disperse the crowd. “I used to transfer my salary to my family in Bangladesh in dollars, but now that I’m getting paid in Lebanese pound, I have to exchange it at the black market rate, which amounts to very little”, one worker told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity. He said his previous salary of $120, now paid in pounds, was worth just $42.

BEIRUT (AP) — One of Syria’s wealthiest businessmen who is a cousin of President Bashar Assad said Tuesday the government has ordered the seizure of his assets and barred him from doing business with the state for five years, escalating a dispute that has been deeply mixed in family affairs. The latest decisions against Rami Makhlouf come after weeks of highly publicized and unusual disputes over outstanding payments that the government is seeking from the country’s largest telecommunication company, which he heads. In an unprecedented move, Makhlouf took his grievances to social media early this month, challenging claims he owes the state any money and asking Assad to be the arbiter to prevent his business from collapsing. Makhlouf, who was once a close Assad aide, posted several videos and statements on his Facebook page indicating that he has been isolated from the president and can only address him through social media.

Makhlouf said the government decree to confiscate his assets and those of his wife and children comes even though the claims involve the telecommunication company, Syriatel, one of his several businesses and in which 50% of the revenue already goes to the state. Although official bodies have communicated notices to Makhlouf through the media, there was no official statement of the confiscation of assets Tuesday. They “just want to control the company and they see nothing else,” Makhlouf wrote, without elaborating. The public dispute revealed a fallout between Assad and his cousin, who has been one of his main backers in the country’s civil war now entering its tenth year. It is the most public split in the tight-knit Assad family, which has ruled Syria for nearly 50 years. The rift comes as the country, already under Western sanctions, enters a new phase of economic hardship. Syria’s currency has spiraled downward, sending prices of basic commodities soaring. Economic activity is also being hurt by restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus, coming atop austerity measures taken during the war, which has displaced nearly half the population.

by english.aawsat.com — Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law took a major step towards splitting from his political camp by calling on the people to “rebel” against the ruling authority as the country grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades. Tensions have been high between Chamel Roukoz and Aoun’s other son-in-law and divisive figure, MP Gebran Bassil, who now heads the Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by the president. Roukoz has been vocal in his support for popular protests that erupted against the ruling elite in October 2019. Bassil had received a lot of the demonstrators’ ire during the rallies. As the economy flounders and more and more people find themselves in poverty, Roukoz appears more committed to the uprising than ever, predicting that a second wave of protests will soon erupt.

At a press conference over the weekend, he severed what appeared to be his last remaining ties with Bassil, calling on the people to rise up against the authority. “Rebelling is a pillar of real freedom, while submission is the basis of slavery,” he said. “The people have grown hungry. When pockets and stomachs become empty and when fathers and mothers can no longer feed their children, then revolution and rebelling become the only means to regain dignity.” Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat after the press conference, Roukoz said that he resorted to harsh rhetoric because the Lebanese have reached a “tragic” point. “No matter how harsh my words get, they will not reach the hardship endured by the people,” he stated.

The Daily Star — BEIRUT: The Lebanese pound rose slightly against the dollar on the parallel market Monday, steadying at around LL3,750 to the dollar. Black market exchangers were initially selling the dollar for around LL3,500 Monday morning but the rate steadied at around LL3,750 to the dollar by the afternoon. Those wanting to sell […]

by arabnews.com — NAJIA HOUSSARI — BEIRUT: The end of Lebanon’s four-day lockdown on Monday saw citizens flood to shops, banks, cafes, and places of work amid government fears that ignoring social distancing guidelines could have serious “consequences” for the country. Pressures caused by the economic crisis and collapse of the Lebanese pound forced the decision to reopen the country for business a week before Eid Al-Fitr, despite random testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) detecting new cases in the capital Beirut and elsewhere. Prime Minister Hassan Diab said: “Each of us must take responsibility for himself.” Monday also witnessed a resumption of virtual talks between the Lebanese government and representatives of the International Monetary Fund aimed at easing the country’s dire financial situation. As the latest session of negotiations took place protesters returned to the streets to carry on their anti-government demonstrations, with sit-ins taking place outside the Palace of Justice in Beirut, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Many Lebanese emerging from the four-day curfew were reported not to be complying with government requests to wear a face mask and apply social distancing rules to avoid any further spread of COVID-19. Assem Araji, head of Lebanon’s parliamentary health committee, told Arab News: “Continuing to close the country is no longer useful in light of the suffocating economic crisis and the collapse of the Lebanese pound. “The country had to be reopened because the people want to eat and the unemployment rate touched 70 percent, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs. “The condition for this return to work was the commitment to preventive measures, but people seem not to want to comply and we cannot put a soldier for every citizen to force them to comply. It is the responsibility of individuals to take care of themselves, their families and all who come into contact with them, and I fear that recklessness will lead to consequences.”

Sarah Dadouch, The Washington Post — BEIRUT – The Lebanese love their food. Their elaborate spreads of grilled and sauteed meats, colorful salads and various vegetable dips, usually garnished with pine nuts, are a source of pride and the shared meals a symbol of generosity. Today, more than ever, food is on everyone’s mind – because there is so little to be had. From the butchers and taxi drivers of Beirut to the aficionados of Tripoli’s famed sweets to the anti-government protesters in the streets, hunger is on everyone’s tongue. Lebanon’s escalating economic crisis and its collapsing currency are putting the price of many foodstuffs beyond the reach of the Lebanese. The price of meat, for example, has doubled since March, with ground beef now running at about $9 a pound.

Mustafa, a 73-year-old butcher in Beirut, said the same customer has been calling him every other day for weeks asking whether the prices have dropped: “He calls and says, ‘No, that’s expensive,’ and hangs up. But it’s only getting more expensive.” Mustafa who out of fear declined to give his full name, said he no longer bothers updating his price list. Rarely does a Lebanese meal lack tomatoes – minuscule cubes hiding among parsley and bulgur in tabbouleh salad, or stewed with onions and garlic, a base for countless other dishes – but tomato prices have also doubled.

Shoppers who used to haul away kilogram after kilogram of tomatoes without a second thought are rationing, buying half a kilo or a few tomatoes at a time, said one grocer, shaking his head in disbelief. And in the northern city Tripoli, which is known for its sweets – the most famous featuring semolina-and-cheese dough wrapped around clotted cream and drizzled with orange-blossom syrup – and where desserts are never an afterthought, the city’s most famous confectioner, Hallab, was uncharacteristically empty. Even though it was Ramadan, when an evening meal usually lasts for hours and ends with the family gathering around the television with tea or coffee and a flaky or creamy dessert, there was no holiday rush. “We can’t even buy dessert,” Um Ahmed, a Tripoli resident, said wearily. “The dessert shops are open, but there’s no money.” “Well, there are those who have money,” her husband, Abu Ahmed, said sarcastically, “such as our ministers and MPs – may God protect them.”

by Sunniva Rose – thenational.ae —The wife of Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has come under fire for suggesting nationals could take low-skilled jobs traditionally held by migrant workers, including as domestic workers or janitors. Nuwar Mawlawi’s comments come as the country faces a dire economic crisis and soaring unemployment and povertyyet where many unskilled or semi-skilled jobs are almost exclusively held by foreign nationals. “We could dispense with migrant workers,” Ms Mawlawi told state-run Radio Lebanon on Friday. “Women sitting at home could work in homes. That is a simple example. Janitors, fuel stations jobs would be for locals.” Her comments sparked debate on social media with some supporting her comments, while others used the derogatory hashtag “Hassan, control your wife”. “All governments in the world are trying to improve the conditions of their people except for Hassan Diab’s wife,” one user tweeted. “She wants girls and women to work as maids and housekeepers.” Like many who expressed outrage at Ms Mawlawi’s words, the user told of his allegiance to Mr Diab’s predecessor and fierce critic, Saad Hariri.

Mr Diab’s office defended Mrs Mawlawi, saying she meant that the “Lebanese must depend on themselves in light of the difficult economic conditions that Lebanon is going through”. She declined to comment on the debate. Economist and former labour minister Charbel Nahas said the suggestion that Lebanese could take low-skilled jobs is a deeply held taboo. “Ms Mawlawi’s words may be glaringly obvious but they hurt the sense of superiority of the Lebanese,” Mr Nahas told The National.

by arabnews.com — NAJIA HOUSSARI — BEIRUT: Foreign workers in Lebanon are seeking repatriation because the country’s dire economic situation has left employers unable to pay them. Many Lebanese people have ditched their foreign domestic help to avoid the cost of repatriating them to their home countries, or returned them to the employment agencies they were recruited from. Domestic workers have also run away after employers stopped paying their salaries, seeking refuge in the embassies of their home countries in their bid to be evacuated. There are more than 150,000 foreigners working legally in Lebanon, and 80,000 working illegally. “We received videotapes of the detention of some 26 Filipino female workers, including a pregnant woman, in a building adjacent to their country’s embassy in the Hadath area in the southern suburb of Beirut more than 35 days ago,” Bassam Kantar, a member of Lebanon’s National Human Rights Commission, which includes the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (LNHRC-CPT), told Arab News. “They were kept in a room in poor conditions. We visited the embassy and talked to the officials. There are more than 100 other workers inside the consulate awaiting repatriation.”

Kantar said that the LNHRC-CPT had been contacted by other foreigners requesting repatriation, especially those who were working illegally. “The LNHRC-CPT contacted Lebanese General Security and it decided to exempt the employees from paying the residency allowance and fines. But it is unable to return them to their countries because it is the responsibility of their embassies.” He said that there was cooperation between the International Organization for Migration and Lebanese General Security to transfer such workers through planes belonging to airlines of other countries that were carrying workers of other nationalities. Some airlines refused to send empty planes to Lebanon due to huge losses, he said, but explained the biggest problem related to workers from countries with which Lebanon had no diplomatic relations.