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Former minister, Leila Solh Hamadeh, visited Ehmej, Byblos, last Thursday on invitation from the town mayor to witness hands-on the process of sterilizing, sorting and packing of apples with the use of novel industrial machinery donated by her institution. To note, Al Waleed Bin Talal Philanthropic Foundation has earlier provided the municipality of Ehmej with high-tech equipment to this end. Solh revealed on the occasion that she is back with “another pivotal development project that benefits the area and its residents,” hoping this would contribute to salvaging this year’s apple production following the recent marketing crisis. (An Nahar, L’Orient Le Jour, December 19, 2016)

 

In response to an earlier feature in Al Akhbar daily on December 13 regarding to the sexual harassment of underage children by Orthodox Church priest which was published coincidentally on December 14, the date of the Appellate Greek Orthodox Court hearing against Archimandrite Farah (http://lkdg.org/ar/node/15891), the Greek Orthodox archimandrite of Tripoli, Father Ibrahim Sruji, wrote an article on December 16th , expounding his stand on the subject. Sruji maintained that he is not after “protecting anyone, but rather is concerned that his brothers are alarmed at instances of harassment while totally disregarding acts of rape engulfing our church since 1972.” Sruji was insinuating to the illegitimate alteration of the statute of the Church’s Constitution issued in 1955, which requires bishops to conduct accountability and disciplinary boards, contrary to the “uncontrollable” conduct overlooked by the distorted law. On the subject of sexual harassment, Sruji stated that no indictment or condemnation was issued against Farah, hence he is “considered innocent until proven guilty.” He cited St. Paul the Apostle’s words on kindness in reference to priest Farah’s human erring. Meanwhile, the chief of the Gathering of Beirut Families, Nicolas Jean Tueini, considered in a statement on December 14, that the title of Al Akhbar’s article gives a final verdict ahead of the hearing, pointing out that Farah’s way of life does not suggest or imply any disgraceful acts. Tueini clarified that the Parish has taken a set of precautionary measures in anticipation of the ruling. Besides, the Parish of Orthodox Church group who signed a petition entitled “a priest is not above the law”, clarified that they are only responsible about the statement of the petition but not about Al-Akbar article. (Al Akhbar, December 14 and 16, 2016)

 

Existing data on the Lebanese labor market is meagre, with an estimated workforce of 1207000 persons in 2009, at an annual 6.6% rate of increase, according to researcher Najib Issa. During a seminar on ‘employment and the labor market crisis in Lebanon’, organized by the Lebanese Observatory for the Rights of Workers and Employees, in cooperation with the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Issa indicated that the informal labor market makes up around 56% of the overall actual workforce, with 39% of laborers having informal jobs. On unemployment rates, Issa, citing official 2010 statistics, said they stood at around 11%, but, he added, these figures were partly politicized and erroneously standardized rendering them inaccurate. As per international estimates, which obviously lack the precise field assessment value, the rates of unemployment fluctuated between 20-25%. However, the rate of annual new arrivals into the local labor market has been stable, (40 to 45 thousand persons), Issa maintained. Joblessness, he explained, chiefly affects the young generation and highly educated and qualified cadres, noting that the unemployment period extends from 1 to 2 years in average, which is quite lengthy. Analyzing the causes of the labor crisis in the country, Issa said it was mostly structural and linked to inadequate economic policies which constantly failed to create jobs. He advised boosting economy, particularly the knowledge-based economy and supporting highly productive and job generating small and medium enterprises. (Al Diyar, December 17, 2016)

 

Critical agricultural issues, now the responsibility of the incumbent president, remain pending and await the formation of the new government (c.f. http://bit.ly/2fBGXNF ).  A recent review of the situation indicates that the export of apples during the first three quarters of 2016 has dropped by 35% and the value has dropped by 8 million USD compared to last year.  This has happened despite the promises of the Minister of Agriculture to secure new markets especially in Egypt, Jordan and Russia.  The delayed rainfall also had a negative impact on non-irrigated crops such as wheat, barley and peas in addition to perennial trees such as citrus trees and in addition to irrigated crops.  Citrus farmers in Akkar and in South Lebanon called on the state to ban foreign products from entering the Lebanese market and compete with their product and to mobilize law enforcement to that effect.  For their part, cow farmers in the Bekaa appealed to the new president to hear their endemic complaints especially that Lebanon has been suffering for the past two years from a drop in the price of milk.  On the other hand, IDAL organized a workshop on “the monitoring systems in packaging centres”.  During the event, IDAL’s president, Nabil Itani, emphasized the importance of this initiative which seeks to strengthen marketing and open new markets.  Itani added that Lebanese exports cannot complete in terms of quantities and thus they should compete in quality and hence the importance of adopting international standards. (An Nahar, Al Akhbar, Ad Dyar, Al Mustakbal, Daily Star – 29/30 November,  1,8,10,11,14 December 2016)

 

The director general of La Regie Libanaise Des Tabacs et Tombacs, Nassif Siqlawi, disclosed that cigarettes production of the state-run institution for the year 2016 has risen by 76% from last year, standing at 400 thousand boxes. Siqlawi, who was speaking during the Board’s annual gala dinner, announced that 2017 will see a 4th line of production and a conclusion of an agreement for the manufacture of international brands of Imperial Tobacco Stock. On the commercial front, Siqlawi said, this year’s sales have recorded nearly USD 675 million at an 11% increase and 5% increase in profits, noting a drop in smuggling activity from 30% to 22% throughout 2015. On efforts to support agriculture and farmers, the Regie DG, pointed out that the agency has recently received the harvest of the South and North areas and has completed some 27 development undertakings in the regions of Akkar, the South and Beqaa. On the occasion, Elias Layoon, speaking on behalf of authorized sales dealers in Lebanon, reminded that the Regie has in the past year exceptionally marketed new brands of Cedar cigarettes which, he stated, have seen remarkable demand from consumers that exceed the existing supply. Layoon said such brands have helped cut the smuggling activity which, otherwise, could have reached 40% prompted by the absence of border control and the dire economic conditions of the Lebanese consumer. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, December 10, 2016)

 

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In a special analysis today, Al Akhbar newspaper highlighted two axes of a recently published UNDP report, ‘Arab Human Development for 2016: Youth and Prospects for Human Development in a Changing Reality’. The first part, involved the significance of religion in the daily lives of young people in Lebanon, and the second tackled challenges in general in the country. According to the report, based on Gallup International data in 2015, over 80% of the Lebanese youth considered religion to be an important part of their everyday life. The report has also shown that during the years 2006 and 2007, nearly 88% of respondents said yes to a question on the relevance of religion. What is remarkable, the newspaper wrote, is that the responses of the young people have not changed much during 7 years retaining their high rates (above 80%). On the other hand, the UNDP report, based on the Arab Barometer research project data in 2014 regarding challenges facing Lebanon, indicated that 60% of young respondents considered the economic situation to be the most prominent, 24.4% pointed out to financial and administrative corruption, 7.1% stability and internal security, and 3.5% the boosting of democracy. For the full report, please visit the following link: (http://bit.ly/2gndwgE). (Al Akhbar, December 8, 201)

 

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50% of Lebanese graduates intent to emigrate for work

 

The caretaker minister of tourism, Michel Pharaon, inaugurated yesterday the Third National Forum on Rural Tourism in Lebanon targeting a ‘developed rural tourism strategy’. The event, held at Dbayeh Royal Hotel, east of the capital, was jointly organized by Beyond Beirut non-government organization and the Lebanon Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD) project funded by USAID. Present, were USAID mission in Lebanon director, Ann Paterson, and over 100 experts and owners of enterprises in the rural tourism sector. On the occasion, Paterson pressed the need to “boost rural tourism as an essential key to rural economic development, which helps in the creation of jobs for rural inhabitants and in the building of women and youth capacities.” For his part, Pharaon outlined a number of touristic undertakings accomplished during 2015 and 2016. The summer of 2015, Pharaon noted, saw more than 120 rural activities and 70 festivals, followed by over 250 rural events and 132 musical concerts in 2016. Pharaon stressed that the rural tourism initiative also helps in preserving natural, cultural, religious and agricultural resources, food and historical heritage of rural areas, as well as in the boosting the activities of guesthouses. (Al Diyar, December 7, 2016)

 

President Elect, General Michel Aoun underlined the importance of solidarity among all components of the civil society, economic bodies and other sectors to the end of achieving economic growth and prosperity in the country. Aoun pointed out that continuous dependence of the economy on royalties has substantially eroded the middle class and increased public debt. Aoun, during his meeting with the President of the Socio-Economic Council, Roger Nesnas, said, “we should boost productivity rather than keep on borrowing.” He called for an “all-out and comprehensive participation in efforts that will inform the right decisions to revive national economy and implement development initiatives that meet the needs of the people.” 

Notwithstanding the recent optimistic official declarations, the economic situation in Lebanon remains unchanged. In this respect, the labor minister said last week that a number of local establishments continue to lay off their employees and workers on the pretext of harsh economic and financial circumstances (for full names of the businesses, go to the following link: http://bit.ly/2g4kkRI). Meanwhile, the World Bank has released a report in mid-November reviewing the latest economic developments in Lebanon during the past 6 months. The WB has seemingly lowered its estimation of real economic growth in the country for last year from 1.5% to 1.3%. Furthermore, the WB report forecasted that public debt in the forthcoming years will continue to grow reaching nearly 148.7% of the GDP in 2016, 155.5% in 2017 and 158.4% in 2018 

(Al Diyar, An Nahar, November 14, December 4 and 6, 2016)

 

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According to Lebanese daily newspapers the bodies of a young man and woman were discovered last Sunday in the neighborhood of Nabi Ismail on the outskirts of Hermel, Beqaa. In the details, someone found the dead bodies lying beside a military weapon and bullet casings. A security squadron and investigative police rushed to the scene of the murder while a Lebanese Red Cross medical team transferred both bodies to Hermel’s state hospital. Preliminary forensic investigation indicated that the girl, identified as F. H, (born in Kuwaykh, 1992), has been shot at a distance  21 times in all her body. The dead man was identified as A.H.R (born in 1984) shot at a close range 3 times in the stomach and chest. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, December 5, 2016)