Shattered dreams

ENAR

The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) has “a team of people who mean well, but look at the top. Look at the board,” says Nassib Ghobril, head of the economic research and analysis department at Byblos Bank Group. Twenty years after it was formed, IDAL has failed to live up to the high hopes set up for it. The beleaguered institution has suffered from many of the political problems common across public agencies, but has also witnessed severe governance problems internally. [pullquote]IDAL is undoubtedly conceptually a very good idea. But if the authority’s role is to promote investment in Lebanon, it is not delivering[/pullquote] IDAL was established as part of Lebanon’s economic rebuilding program following the Civil War, at a time when the enthusiasm for reconstruction and development of the country was much greater than today. Since 1994, the institution has had a mandate to market Lebanon abroad as