Two men standing around destruction from Israeli strikes. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin).
-Head of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan stated Tuesday that the draft budget for 2025 needs to be revised in light of Israel’s ongoing war on Lebanon, a country already grappling with a severe economic crisis since the end of 2019. The draft budget was sent to Parliament by the Cabinet and forecast growth for 2024 and 2025. The text was approved on Sept. 23, after caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil sent it to the Cabinet on Aug. 30.
The draft budget approved by the executive branch contained slightly different figures from those presented in the initial draft budget. According to the text's preamble, a balanced budget was expected, with LL445,214 billion (more than $4.97 billion) in revenue and expenditure. While the initial text also projected a financial balance, it set revenue and expenditure at approximately LL427,695 billion (over $4.77 billion). This amount was already 39 percent higher than the LL308,435 billion voted by MPs in 2024 (around $3.83 billion).
-The Ministry of Finance (MoF) registered 26,430 real estate transactions in the first nine months of 2024, an increase of 118 percent compared to the same period in 2023 when only 12,125 transactions were registered, according to data compiled by Byblos Bank’s “Lebanon This Week” report, and based on the latest numbers released by the MoF.
The value of these transactions also recorded a drastic increase from LL56,027.9 billion during the first nine months of 2023 to a staggering LL166,406.2 billion over the same period in 2024 (or an increase of 197 percent).
-The BLOM Bond Index (BBI), which tracks the movement of Lebanese Eurobonds – the country's dollar-denominated state bonds – declined slightly this week (-0.4 percent), following last Tuesday's election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States. The value of the index stood at 6.97 points. BlomInvest attributes the drop to the fact that "some analysts fear that Trump's accession to the U.S. presidency could further escalate the war in Lebanon."
According to Marwan Barakat, Director of the Economic Department at Bank Audi, the average price of Eurobonds on the secondary market closed on Friday at 8.25 cents to the dollar, lower than the 8.75 cents seen in October but still above the range of 6 to 7 cents where it had been trading for a long time since the government defaulted on payments in March 2020, a few months after the onset of the crisis at the end of 2019.
-Caretaker Telecommunication Minister Johnny Corm announced a series of changes to the procedures for joining and canceling the fixed-line network operated by Ogero. In a press release published on Friday by the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the Minister stated that subscribers who have had to flee their homes can request the deactivation of their subscription free of charge, to avoid future bills and fees. The option is also open to those whose connections have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes.
-The Lebanese Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), continued to fall in September, against the backdrop of Israel’s increasingly heavy bombardment of Lebanon.
Published by BlomInvest, the index reached its lowest level in 44 months, or almost four years, and stood at 45 points (down from 47 points in September). Economic activity has come to a halt in regions heavily pounded by Israeli strikes, while other areas are holding up a little better, benefiting from the influx of displaced people from high-risk areas.
In a statement issued on Monday, the International Confederation of Lebanese Businesspeople (LCLB), which brings together local and diaspora entrepreneurs, highlighted the devastating effects of the war on SMEs, which make up the bulk of Lebanon's entrepreneurial fabric.
“SMEs have lost their liquidity, many of their workers, their local market has deteriorated and they have lost the confidence of their international customers. They can't survive for more than a few months, and if they collapse, it will be a fatal blow to the Lebanese economy,” stressed its president Fouad Zmokhol, quoted in the press release issued after a meeting between LCLB members.
-Gasoline prices decreased in Lebanon on Friday, while diesel and heating oil prices rose slightly, according to the Energy Ministry's latest fuel price list. The price of domestic gas remained unchanged.
Here are the new rates:
Feature of the week:
Restaurants in areas like Naccache, Antelias and Broummana, all the way to Batroun, are experiencing a surge in business, as people look for dine-out alternatives away from Beirut. It is estimated that restaurants in the capital had already experienced a drop in business of 40 percent in July 2024 compared to July 2023, and the number is likely higher today. Read the piece:
