It’s time to stop beating around the bush and address the elephant in the room. The economic situation in Lebanon is an absurdity, and the political class’ inaptitude to commit to anything that resembles a recovery plan is beyond comprehension. Three years are more than enough to confirm our impression that the only plan they seem to have is to cling to power and protect their hidden agendas.
The discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the reform requirements have been nothing short of a farce. The Lebanese people have witnessed this first in 2020 and then again last year. The Lebanese political class continues to treat the IMF’s demands with the same level of disdain they have for their citizens. Those who thrive in corruption have no intention or are even interested in implementing a plan that could lead to an economic recovery. They just want to strengthen their grip on Lebanon and continue molding it to their blood-stained ambitions.
This is where Executive Magazine’s 6th iteration of our Economic Roadmap comes in. This edition takes a hard look at the situation and acknowledges that the delivery of public goods such as water, energy, healthcare, and education cannot be trusted to public entities in any way. After years of categorical destruction of public institutions, the development of public goods has gone from legal and dysfunctional to illegal and protected by the political mafia.
The informal market has prevailed in a manner that is convenient to the extractive ambition of the political mafia. Against this trend, private initiatives are providing solutions which are inclusive and hold value potential. Thus we are increasingly witnessing private initiatives that are finding illegal yet ethical solutions to provide public goods that are inclusive and can capture value.
The question that needs to be asked is, how can these solutions become legal?
The problem is that the Lebanese citizen is on their own amid this madness. They are misinformed and deceived, manipulated in their choices of the system that will best serve their needs.
But it is time to stop believing the lies saying that the political class is going to do anything to fix the situation. It’s up to us as citizens to take action and drive the change. It’s time to support private initiatives that are providing solutions which are functional, ethical, and inclusive. It’s time to discount the system from the equation and drive the change we deserve.
