Auto boom

It was business as usual for the first nine months of 2014 in the automotive and transportation sectors. Car sales were similar to 2013, and used car sales continued to drop, with low priced and new models coupled with access to easy financing keeping the sector in gear. In short, it was another good year for consumers to buy a car and another bad year in the inglorious history of Lebanese public transport. A new traffic law based on global best practices was passed that could alter the organized anarchy that is the current ‘rule of the road’ today. All that is missing is implementation, which dealers are keen to see happen. What the sector was not as happy about was an unexpected circular from the Banque du Liban (BDL) to raise down payment requirements to 25 percent as of October 1, 2014, which could cause a drop in sales