Q&A: Neemat Frem

Neemat Frem is the president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, chief executive officer at INDEVCO Group and founder of technology service provider Phoenix Machinery. He recently sat down with Executive to discuss the state of the industrial sector in the face of regional turmoil, high energy costs and the economic downturn in Lebanon. Let’s start off with some statistics. Lebanese industry had five years of strong growth, but 2011 and 2012 were slower, reflected in lower exports, a drop in machinery imports and also fewer bank loans to the sector. What do you attribute the drop to? No doubt the first half of 2011 was tough… basically, Lebanese industry doubled in size in five years. In 2011, it was not a slow down in growth but a complete stop and it was the second half of the year that did all the damage. This year we started to regress,