-The Central Bank (BDL) announced on Thursday that it is expanding the number of beneficiaries of circular No. 166, allowing more people to withdraw dollars from their bank accounts – which have been subject to restrictions for five years since the onset of the economic crisis in late 2019.

The amendments, introduced in Intermediate Circular No. 711, ensure that depositors who converted their Lebanese Lira into dollars after Oct. 30, 2019, following the collapse of the local currency, and regardless of the amount of these conversions, can benefit from the mechanism and now also withdraw $150 per month.

-Since the intensification of strikes on Lebanon over the past three weeks, more than a million people have fled high-risk areas, seeking refuge in safer regions. Some have opted to stay in hotels.

According to Pierre Achkar, President of the Hotel Owners' Syndicate "one-, two-, and three-star hotels are nearly full, while four- and five-star hotels have occupancy rates ranging from 40 percent to 50 percent." This mainly applies to hotels located in areas considered “safe” and far from the southern suburbs of Beirut or the airport road. He specifically mentions certain neighborhoods in the capital, like "Hamra or Achrafieh, as well as more distant areas like Metn, Kesrouan, or Jbeil."

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-The director of the Port of Beirut, Omar Itani, said on Wednesday that the port was operating "almost normally" despite the war between Israel and Hezbollah. "We are working almost normally at the port, both in terms of imports and exports," he said, as cited in the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Following a meeting at the Grand Serail, the president of the Food Importers Syndicate, Hani Bohsali, stated that the country would not have supply issues as long as its main infrastructures remained operational, such as Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) and the Port of Tripoli. Contacted by L'Orient Today, the president of the Association of Petroleum Importing Companies (APIC), Maroun Chammas, confirmed that Lebanon was still being supplied with gasoline, diesel and domestic gas despite the delay of the last shipment, which arrived Monday night in Beirut

-In the space of two weeks, the price of Lebanese Eurobonds – the more than $30 billion worth of Lebanese currency-denominated debt on which Lebanon defaulted in March 2020 – rose by 35 percent on international markets, from 6.5 to 8.75 cents. This represents their highest level since September 2023.

This trend is linked to the increase in international demand for these Lebanese bonds – issued before the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2019 and thanks to which Lebanon was able to take on debt in dollars – due to a growing appetite on the part of certain foreign investors and major international investment banks.

“Some people are interested in them for short-term gains, while others are interested in them for the long term. But as soon as there are positive expectations, this is reflected in prices, and some investors jump at the chance,” explained Michel Accad, Managing Director of Bankmed. “This doesn't necessarily mean that expectations will materialize,” he added. But the fact that these Eurobonds are priced so low, and so reactive to news that may be positive, makes them all the more attractive.

-Gasoline and diesel prices increased further on Tuesday, according to the new price list issued by the Ministry of Energy and Water. The price of a cylinder of domestic gas jumped by more than $4.

Here are the new rates:

Piece of the week:

Thousands have already escaped by car or bus to Syria and Jordan, while multiple embassies have taken measures to evacuate their expats, and the country's sole remaining airline, Middle East Airlines, has fully booked flights for the next two weeks. For those left with few options, the only escape is by sea, boarding yachts and ferries bound for Cyprus and Turkey in a bid to escape the chaos.

Desperation and panic have caused a rush on yacht trips, for which fares have skyrocketed, reaching upward of $2,300. Zahar Labban, who is sailing between two to four boatloads of people to Cyprus daily, with spots also priced between $1,500 and $1,700, said that the same trip would usually cost around $900 in normal times, but that prices increased with the intensification of the war. This means that fares have hiked up to 88 percent so far. Read the piece:

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Companies are charging between $1,400 to $2,300 to flee Lebanon on a yacht