by Business Insider –  Hilary Brueck — Emotional support peacocks. Emotional support snakes. Emotional support hamsters. People have been bringing all sorts of “support animals” into public places recently, arguing the creatures should be allowed to fly on planes and come into offices or restaurants because they serve a mental-health purpose. But what does an emotional support […]

Arab weekly  – By: Gareth Smyth – Lebanon’s resilience is famous. Since the civil war ended in 1990, Lebanon has survived Israeli onslaughts in 1996 and 2006, as well as the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Since 2011, Lebanon’s population has absorbed more than 1 million Syrian refugees. Some attribute such resilience to a political system based on compromises between sects, even when politicians are allied to rival regional powers. Others say Lebanon has survived due to its banking system. In a country with intermittent electricity and rampant nepotism, Lebanon’s banking sector excels. The regulatory framework imposed by the Central Bank, led since 1993 by Riad Salameh, showed its resilience in 2009. The world financial crisis barely rattled Lebanon’s banks. At the end of 2017, the banks’ assets in the domestic market were $220 billion. The six banks listed on the Beirut Stock Exchange have assets, including foreign operations, of $125 billion. The banks’ overall assets represent approximately four times Lebanon’s gross domestic product.

The banks’ importance is twofold. First, their earnings and receipt of remittances from Lebanese abroad mitigate a balance-of-trade deficit of $20.3 billion in 2017. Along with tourism receipts and foreign direct investment (FDI), this has resulted in a balance of payments deficit of just $156 million. This represents a deterioration on 2016’s $1.2 billion surplus but it is better news than it might have been. Second, the banks have financed government borrowing that took public debt to $78.15 billion in September 2017, up 4.6% year-on-year and 149% of GDP. Borrowing has financed a bloated public sector: From 2000-16, the International Monetary Fund said, 34.7% of public spending went to salaries. In the past three years, the government has appointed 26,000 extra staff. Bankers want reform. Some detect positive signs. A recent government circular called for a 20% reduction in non-salary spending. Ahead of April’s elections, there is newfound government efficiency in planning cabinet ratification of the 2018 budget. “Lebanon needs drastic structural adjustment, such as fighting fiscal evasion, which is $4.2 billion a year in a country with a $5 billion deficit,” said Marwan Barakat, chief economist at Banque Audi. “The deficit has to be reduced to ensure a soft landing.” The politicians assume the banks will forever rescue them, bankers say, thereby threatening not just the country’s banks but its entire economy. “The banking sector faces challenges,” said Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank. “The first is the decline in lending opportunities in the private sector, due to the expanding public sector. Second, there are the continuing borrowing needs of the government. While the banking system — the Central Bank and the commercial banks — finances the deficit, we see no political will to reduce the fiscal deficit and implement reforms.”

The Daily Star BEIRUT: Lebanese politicians responded Saturday to the latest developments in the Ziad Itani case, after reports emerged that the actor had been framed by a former Internal Security Forces officer. President Michel Aoun called for all parties to comply with the confidentiality of the investigation – in which Itani stood charged of collaborating […]

Selfie of Lebenese PM Saad Hariri, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Khaled bin Salman, Kingdom’s ambassador to US. (Twitter/@saadhariri) by ArabNews – JEDDAH: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri shared a selfie early Saturday with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and his brother . The image, which will likely go viral on social media in both […]

By reuters – BEIRUT: Lebanon’s 2018 budget will likely be approved by cabinet before mid-March, its finance minister said, as the heavily indebted country seeks to agree its spending plans before an April 6 economic conference in Paris. The minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, has previously said Lebanon will not be able to ask international donors […]

by forbes  Angel Au-Yeung  – As Facebook continues to face scrutiny about its possible role in influencing the U.S. presidential election, a different kind of social network, Vero, has jumped the top of the charts, thrusting its Riyadh-based Lebanese billionaire cofounder into the spotlight. Vero became one of the most downloaded social apps worldwide in both […]

by the dailyStar.com.lb Demand for properties in Lebanon in 2017 surged by 13.7 percent to 47.6 points compared to 2016, but this score is still far lower than the peak achieved in 2010, according to the Byblos Bank Real Estate Demand Index. “The full year results show that Byblos Bank Real Estate Demand Index averaged 47.6 […]

by reuters – RIYADH/BEIRUT — Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for the first time since his abrupt resignation during a visit there in November set off a major political crisis. Lebanese officials said at the time that Riyadh had forced its long-time ally Hariri to quit and put him […]

by Gulfnews – Sami Moubayed, – Damascus: Lebanon’s long overdue decision, to drill for oil and gas reserves in an offshore water area, has sparked escalating tensions between Beirut and Tel Aviv, threatening, yet again, another military confrontation between the two countries. Israel falsely claims that part of the triangular water area, known as Block 9, is […]

by Naharnet – Senior Saudi official Nizar al-Alula continued his meetings for the second day in a row with Lebanese officials and met on Tuesday with former prime ministers Najib Miqati and Tammam Salam and Fouad Saniora. The ex-Premiers have received the Saudi diplomat at their residences in the presence of Saudi ambassador to Lebanon […]