Reading Time: 15 minutes “The existing dual exchange rate is not suited for the long-term recovery of the Lebanese economy, because of its distortionary nature and the limited availability of FX-resources in the parallel market.” The Lebanese Government’s reform program, April 6 draft Chained to the dollar for the longest time under a policy favoring partisan interests—but not Lebanon’s…
Public finances reach Court of Audit
Reading Time: 3 minutes On April 6, 2018, at CEDRE, donor countries pledged $10.2 billion in loans and $860 million in grants to Lebanon to fund long-awaited infrastructure projects in the country. However, the donor countries and organizations require of Lebanon a long list of fiscal, structural, and sectoral reforms in order to release the funds, of which anti-corruption…
Lebanon’s financial woes are home spun
Reading Time: 3 minutes Much like Ebenezer Scrooge’s selfish deeds, Lebanon’s past monetary and fiscal policies have finally come home to roost. As 2018 ends, most Lebanese have but one haunting worry: What kind of economic showdown will 2019 bring? To answer these fears, we first have to look at how we arrived at this wretched economic condition that…
Mapping the money
Reading Time: 2 minutes At the end of March, Lebanon passed the 2018 state budget, the second budget passed in a six-month period after almost 12 years wihout any budget at all. The 2018 state budget features a 0.06 percent decrease in total spending compared against the 2017 state budget, with current expenditures declining 4 percent and capital expenditures…
Budgeting for the future
Reading Time: 5 minutes Lebanon passed its second state budget in less than six months at the end of March, after being without one for almost 12 years. The 2018 state budget was hastily pushed through cabinet and Parliament ahead of early April’s CEDRE infrastructure investment conference in Paris, and it mandated spending cuts meant to please international donors.…
Where is the money going?
Reading Time: < 1 minute In November 2017, Parliament ratified a state budget for the first time in over a decade. For fiscal year 2017, the state’s total spending allocation was almost $16 billion (LL23.9 trillion). This represents a nearly 140 percent increase in public spending compared to 2005, the last year for which a budget was passed, when spending…
Fiscal performance and the debt outlook
Reading Time: 5 minutes There has been quite a lot of concern regarding Lebanon’s recent fiscal performance and its debt outlook. In its Article IV reviews for Lebanon, the International Monetary Fund has repeatedly alerted officials that the debt burden could derail the government from attaining its economic objectives and could be the prime risk source on financial stability,…