Basta neighborhood in the heart of Beirut, on November 23, 2024, hours after an overnight Israeli strike that killed 29 people and injured 67 others. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient Today)
-“The damage inflicted on the agricultural sector due to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon is extremely significant,” Lebanese caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan told the press. “It's impossible to provide exact figures at the moment, as the situation is evolving, with hundreds of villages being bombed from Baalbeck-Hermel to the South.”
“All sectors have suffered damage, but the agricultural sector is the one that has been most seriously impacted,” he stressed, adding that, according to FAO, “Over 70 percent of the agricultural sector has been affected, directly or indirectly.”
-According to the Jihad al-Binaa Foundation, one of the largest Hezbollah-led associations which were responsible for rebuilding most of the damaged homes after the 2006 war, the cost of damages to the physical structure in Lebanon from Oct. 8, 2023, until October 2024 is estimated at $2.9 billion — with over 45,000 houses destroyed and 1.2 million cubic meters of rubble left in the areas.
Jihad al-Binaa's census revealed that the scale of destruction caused by Israeli bombing in Beirut’s southern suburbs was similar to that of the 2006 war. At the time, 246 buildings had been completely destroyed, compared to 220 by the end of October 2024. The foundation estimated that the losses related to this latest count amount to $630 million, and could increase as the Israeli army continues to pound the region. The remaining $2.3 billion in damages to the physical structure is distributed between the Bekaa and southern Lebanon.
-After the 0.18 percent decrease in inflation in September – the first since February 2022 – the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which calculates price changes in Lebanese lira, rose again in October, increasing by 2.02 percent compared to the previous month.
Published by the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), this index also recorded an annual increase of 15.68 percent. However, in October, its annual increase surged to 32.92 percent. This reflects the relative slowdown in the rise in consumer prices across the market, a trend that began several months ago in the wake of the stabilization of the Lebanese lira exchange rate.
-Forbes Middle East just released its 30 under 30 lists of 2024, featuring 20 Lebanese young professionals. The lists were split into four categories – Science and Technology, Sports and Entertainment, Commerce and Finance, and Social Impact – each featuring 30 individuals “driving significant change” across the MENA region.
-Prices for gasoline, diesel and heating oil increased slightly in Lebanon on Monday, according to the latest price list from the Energy Ministry.
Here are the new rates:
Piece of the week:
Banque du Liban (BDL)’s foreign exchange reserves fell by a worrying $468 million between the end of September and mid-November, reaching $10.19 billion. The main reason for this decline is the escalation of military confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel, combined with an increasingly unsustainable monetary policy. Mounir Younes explains:
