Reading Time: 3 minutes It plainly is depressing. Practically every story in this issue of Executive starts—if not with the scary ad-hoc topic of the coronavirus—but with a reference to the dire economic straits that Lebanon is in. And even before the March issue went to the newsstands, the mood among some of our online readers seemed to be…
Lebanon faces growing unemployment
Reading Time: 5 minutes The last study on unemployment in Lebanon—conducted by Lebanon’s Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) in partnership with the International Labor Organization in 2018- 2019—revealed a general unemployment rate of 11.4 percent, reaching as high as 23.3 percent for youth. In light of the past few months, there can be no doubt that these percentages have…
Q&A with Nassib Ghobril on Lebanon’s eurobonds
Reading Time: 8 minutes Lebanon is due to make a $1.2 billion principal eurobond payment on March 9, with opinions divided on whether to pay or put in place a plan to restructure the debt. As part of our coverage, Executive spoke via telephone with Nassib Ghobril, chief economist of the Byblos Bank Group, to find out why he…
Reflections on the Lebanese revolution
Reading Time: 3 minutes When crowds began to gather in Downtown Beirut on that fateful evening on October 17, 2019, few could have predicted that, a 100 plus days later, Lebanon would be still in the furrows of a revolt with almost daily protests across the nation, several clashes between protesters and party shabiha, and with riot police—and road…
Lebanon’s new government must focus on priorities
Reading Time: 3 minutes Lebanon has a new Council of Ministers. This is, from one perspective, a clear and present improvement. Having a government as a sovereign state is an absolute and total prerequisite to function as a country in the global concert of nations. In this sense, the serial failures of Lebanon to swiftly move and empower new…
People outclass politicians on women’s rights, expression rights, and responsibilities
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…
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…
Economic Roadmap
Reading Time: 2 minutes This document—Economic Roadmap 3.0—is the most definitive Roadmap yet in Executive Magazine’s ongoing quest for providing a working platform for advancing the Lebanese economy. Building on a first version published in the December 2018/January 2019 issue of Executive, and a second version published with an additional 261 measures and three entirely new national priorities in…
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 Uprising: Quotes
Reading Time: 6 minutes What are the next steps for Lebanon? Between now and year’s end, what do you propose stakeholders in your field should be doing? “Lebanon should, at long last, find its bearings politically, financially, and economically. A credible and technocratic government should be installed to restore confidence and kickstart the institutional process. The country’s finances should be…