Reading Time: 9 minutes The fourth discussion in Executive’s roundtable initiative was comprised of two broad topics: access to rights, with particular focus on the rights of women, and access to information, with additional focus on freedom of expression and media responsibility. Both topics were deserving of roundtables in their own right and had initially been planned as separate…
People outclass politicians on women’s rights, expression rights, and responsibilities
Not so merry go-round
Reading Time: 7 minutes 2016 October 20 Saad Hariri endorses presidential bid of Michel Aoun. October 31 Aoun, backed by Hezbollah, is elected president of Lebanon, ending a two-year stalemate. November 3 Hariri named as prime minister, promises a new, just electoral law. December 19 Hariri begins his second tenure as PM, forming a 30 minister cabinet that includes…
Reflections during tumultuous times
Reading Time: 3 minutes The year-end holiday season is a time for self-reflection and goal setting. We at Executive are no different, and so as we prepare to bid 2019 goodbye, we are looking backward to recognize our achievements this year—despite the trying circumstances—to understand what we could have done differently, and to explore ideas and opportunities for growth…
Transition scenarios and their bleak alternatives
Reading Time: 10 minutes For the roundtable on financial reality, monetary needs, and trade and energy issues, the discussion brief invited debate on the role and responsibility of the central bank, the banking sector, the insurance sector, and capital markets in Lebanon, coupled with exploring the country’s circumstances with regard to trade and remittances, its interdependency on international financial…
The search for a fairer, more redistributive tax system
Reading Time: 6 minutes The roundtable covered in this piece was dedicated to economic angles of fiscal reform and taxation. Thus, in the context of Executive’s mission and coverage focuses, both it and the accompanying sixth roundtable on financial reality were a hardcore expression of this magazine’s existential paradigm to cover the Lebanese economy to the best of its…
Reinventing Lebanese education for an uncertain future
Reading Time: 5 minutes The third discussion in Executive’s roundtable initiative was designed to cover a broad selection of topics—regarding health, education, and labor—under the banner of social development. Already a dense focus, the third roundtable was further restrained when it became clear to Executive’s editors that plans to carry out 10 roundtables over the course of November 18…
Hard new looks at the tech ecosystem and its entrepreneurial future
Reading Time: 7 minutes Before the October 2019 uprising, it was not difficult to list unresolved questions and some outright disappointments with the way that the Lebanese entrepreneurship ecosystem had been shaped in the past six years since Lebanon’s central bank, Banque du Liban (BDL), effectively launched it with publication of its Circular 331. In mid-November, amid the uprising,…
Corruption looms over all aspects of Lebanese life
Reading Time: 6 minutes Executive has long recognized the importance of fighting corruption as an essential step toward creating a strong economy for Lebanon. Both previous versions of Executive’s Economic Roadmap (version 1.0 published in December 2018 and 2.0 published in February 2019) had sections dedicated to combating corruption, as does the reshaped Economic Roadmap 3.0 that has been…
Executive’s “Quote of the Month” throughout 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutes JANUARY “It’s different from Washington and London, we should maybe teach them how to run a country without a budget.” Then-caretaker foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, answering a question on cabinet formation in an interview with CNN, January 22, 2019. FEBRUARY “My decision and the government’s decision is to work, work, work.” Prime Minister Saad Hariri,…
Lebanon needs concrete steps to tackle corruption to restore confidence
Reading Time: 3 minutes Trust in politicians and governments is usually a result of a successful performance, but it is also—perhaps more significantly—an ingredient for success. Without it, citizens and businesses are less likely to respond to public policies, especially those that are seeking to promote economic recovery and stability. Trust is necessary to increase the confidence of investors…
Lebanon’s F&B operators face an economic crisis and low tourism
Reading Time: 7 minutes The once mighty food and beverage (F&B) sector is today falling under the weight of the current economic crisis—the dollar shortage, increased cost of living due to exchange rates, and lower purchasing power—and lack of tourists, with no respite in sight. Once optimistic F&B operators, who had always insisted that the sector was resilient enough…
Lebanon’s hotels facing a bleak last quarter
Reading Time: 5 minutes During the winter holiday period hotels are typically full of life, from locals dining at the in-house food and beverage outlets, to tourists checking in to their rooms at the lobby—everything and everyone is covered with a festive sheen. This year, however, if October and November performances are any indication, a busy festive season will…
No more lies
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s only during crisis that truth comes to light. As everyone scrambles into new positions, reality is revealed. Each time the Lebanese equation changes, players let their masks slip in their bid to defend their slice of what remains. The violations that are perpetrated in the process are often so flagrant that forgiveness seems impossible. …
A roadmap to recovery
Reading Time: 27 minutes There is one question on everyone’s mind: Is there still a way out of the current crisis or are we going to fall into an abyss with an intense deterioration of all economic indicators that could lead to dire consequences? A summary of the current economic situation will help us analyze its sustainability. Then we…
Keep the spirit of this revolution
Reading Time: 3 minutes Constitutions are serious stuff. The one that I grew up under is known as the Grundgesetz—the fundamental law of Germany. In its first line, this constitution declares that the dignity of the human being is inviolable and that the state has to honor and protect it. Back at the time of this constitution’s drafting 70…