Stasis and conflict

“That law has been approved in the Cabinet and I met with [Speaker] Nabih Berri and he promised me it will be in the first parliamentary meeting. That law will mean taxes on all Lebanese products that are exported will be reduced by 50 percent. We pay 15 percent on income tax and profits, but that will be reduced to 7.5 percent” Caretaker Industry Minister Vrej Sabounjian in October 2012 on a bill to reduce export taxes to boost industry “[The law] is in the parliament. It has been over seven or eight months in the parliament. I hope one day they meet again and finalize this law” Caretaker Industry Minister Vrej Sabounjian discusses the same law, but with less optimism, in November 2013 “[Lebanese industrialists must] help themselves first of all — don’t expect anything from anybody. We have learned the hard way with the situation today — when