by dailystar.com.lb

Financial inflows to Lebanon in 2017 could jump by 20 percent thanks
to the positive political and economic conditions, Bank Audi said
Wednesday. “The improvement in Lebanon’s politico-economic
conditions could generate no less than a 20 percent rise in financial
inflows in 2017, following the noticeable double-digit growth that was
reported in 2016 and that was driven by the financial engineering
operations of the Central Bank. A net surplus in the balance of payments
would be realized for the second year in a row after the five-year
cumulative deficits that were realized between 2010 and 2015,” Bank said
in a report on the performance of the fixed income market in Lebanon. Lebanon counts heavily on capital and financial inflows to inject new
cash into the market as well as achieve a surplus in the balance of
payments. Most of these inflows are in the form remittances from
Lebanese expatriates in Arab Gulf states and Africa. The report also projected a growth in the money supply in 2017. “In parallel, we project a 7 percent growth in Money Supply for the
year, driven both by domestic money creation and the positive change in
net foreign assets. This moderate money supply growth is likely to yield
a deposit growth of close to $10 billion in 2017 (15 percent more than
the average of the past three years), with total banking sector deposits
exceeding the threshold of $170 billion,” Audi said. This expected rise in both financial inflows and would also increase loans to the private sector, according to the report.

“At the uses level, bank loans to the private sector are likely to
benefit from rising financing needs in a faster growth economy. We
forecast a circa $4 billion growth in bank lending to the private sector
(25 percent more than the average of the past 3 years), driven by
growing lending opportunities to finance new projects, corporate
expansion and working capital,” Audi said. It stressed that the expected rise in deposit growth and liquidity may provide some support for the eurobond market in Lebanon. “The
current year started with a sound reflection of an improving domestic
financial environment. Bank deposits grew by $1.4 billion over the first
two months of 2017 (against a net decline over the same period of
2016).

by middleeasteye.net The toll in two days of clashes in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon rose to five on Sunday, medics said, as local factions worked to implement a security plan. Clashes erupted in the camp late Friday as Palestinian factions participating in a joint security force began deploying throughout the area in […]

By Arwad Khalifeh – Article represents opinion of the author I watched Lebanese filmmakers Sophie Boutros and Nadia Eliewat’s new romcom, “Solitaire,” last week and I still get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I think about it. The movie is so beautifully written, combining a wonderful sense of humor with just the right amount of […]

BEIRUT, April 8 (Xinhua) — Clashes at south Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Sidon, continued on Saturday between the Joint Palestinian Security Forces and the hardline Islamist Bilal Badr group, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. According to the NNA, Fatah commander Munir Maqdah said in a statement that “the situation at […]

by  Bryan Logan and Alex Lockie

The United States launched a salvo of more than missiles on
Shayrat airfield and nearby military infrastructure controlled by
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in response to a chemical
attack that killed at least 80 people in the northwestern part of
the country on Monday. The Tomahawk missiles, launched from the USS Ross and the USS
Porter at dawn local time, represent the first US strikes on the
Assad regime, according to a statement from the Pentagon. US President Donald Trump, initially resistant to the idea
of becoming involved in Syria, said it was in the vital
national security interest of the US to prevent the use of
chemical weapons. “No child of god should suffer such horror,” Trump said in a
televised address after the cruise missile strikes. “It is in
this vital national security interest of the United States to
prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”

Autopsies have confirmed that the attack
involved chemical weapons, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
said there can be “no doubt” that Assad’s forces carried out the
attack. Both Syrian and Russian forces have denied responsibility
for the attack, with Russian forces claiming a conventional
airstrike hit a cache of chemical weapons owned by rebels in
Syria. International experts have dismissed this as an “infantile argument.” Though the US strike targeted infrastructure and
runways, a large volley of cruise missiles carries the risk of
collateral damage to troops stationed nearby. Initial reports
from Syrian military sources say the strikes “led to losses,” as Reuters notes.

by ansamed.info – BRUSSELS – Lebanon is a ”ticking time bomb”, Prime Minister
Saad Hariri said Wednesday, due to consequences of the Syrian war and
huge refugee community resulting. ”Lebanon cannot and won’t
continue to sustain the consequences of hosting 1.5 million displaced on
its territory unless a new plan is put in place,” Hariri said,
addressing the Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and
the Region. He noted that there are 4 million Lebanese in the
country, alongside 1.5 million Syrians and over half a million
Palestinians, comparing the situation to if 500 million EU citizens had
to deal with 250 million people ”arriving in a single night” and
having to deal with them even if the EU was already experiencing
difficulties. Hariri called on countries at the conference to ”invest
in hope”, warning that otherwise desperation and radicalization would
grow. Given worsening economic conditions of the country, he said that
this would lead many Lebanese and Syrians to ”seek another home”. © Copyright ANSA – All rights reserved