A person counting $100 bank notes. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
- In the last decade, Lebanon has managed, despite geopolitical and economic turmoil, to achieve a trade surplus with six Arab countries (Iraq, Qatar, Syria, Yemen, Oman and Somalia) – where the value of exports exceeded the cost of imports. However, Lebanon’s trade relationships with the remaining 12 Arab countries (with Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on top of the list), were marked by a deficit, with imports well exceeding exports.
The latest data compiled by The Directory of Exports and Industrial Firms in Lebanon (DEIF), based on numbers retrieved from the Lebanese Customs Administration, uncover a nuanced narrative of regional trade relations between 2014 and 2023.
-After becoming a “ghost town” for years, Beirut Souks announced on June 26 that more than 100 stores will soon be opening in the high-end downtown shopping center.
In a post on Instagram published on June 26, Beirut Souks announced the reopening of many shops, including Nike, Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, Virgin, Etam, L'Occitane en Provence, Mouftah El Chark, among others.
The massive complex, first opened in 2009 and which sits exactly on the site of Beirut's original traditional souks, has been plagued by a series of events over the past years, including the 2019 economic crisis, the mass protests in Downtown Beirut and the port explosion, which heavily damaged its stores and led it to fall into disarray.
-The British bank HSBC has appointed its Lebanese-born Chief Financial Officer, Georges Elhedery, as the next CEO, the bank announced on Wednesday. This choice "underscores the global banking group's preference for continuity as it seeks to reignite growth," the company stated.
Elhedery, 50, who becomes HSBC’s third CEO in less than eight years, will replace Noel Quinn starting Sept. 2. Although the 160-year-old lender considered external candidates, it has traditionally appointed its CEO internally.
- Ghada Aoun, the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal in Mount Lebanon, has barred Marwan Kheireddine, CEO of AM Bank (al-Mawarid Bank), from leaving Lebanon. This action comes amid a legal dispute over a decision by interim Cassation Public Prosecutor Jamal Hajjar to restrict the judicial police from following Aoun's directives.
Aoun's measure was taken following a complaint lodged by MP Elias Jarada, along with lawyers Hassan Bazzi, Pierre Haddad, Najib Farhat, and their colleagues against the company Optimum Invest and several banks implicated in an ongoing investigation.
- Lebanon’s fuel prices saw a very slight decrease on Friday, according to the latest price list published by the Energy and Water Ministry.
Here are the new prices:
Analysis of the week
It’s become a phenomenon surprising yet obvious over the past few months: Exchange shops offering gold to customers are proliferating in Lebanon. As per Lebanese Customs data, this precious metal’s imports accounted for 12 percent of the country’s total imports in 2023, compared with 4.3 percent three years earlier. The Lebanese are buying more gold amid the country’s economic crisis. Read Mounir Younes’ Piece:
