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Utopia, an organization created in 2012 by young people in Tripoli for the purpose of highlighting their rights and eliminating all forms of discrimination, launched yesterday its campaign entitled "what are you still waiting for?".  The campaign targets the National Office of Employment and seeks to highlight its role so that it can help find employment opportunities for young people.  The campaign kicked off through the organization's facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/UtopiaLebanon), and will move to activities at field level in order to relay the message of the campaign and achieve its objectives.  Utopia noted that the "National Office of Employment's objectives is to meet the demand of the job market.  However, the NOE branch in Tripoli plays no role.  It receives requests and these go into oblivion". (Al Diyar, 23 September, 2016).

 

The Minister of Energy, Arthur Nazarian, participated yesterday at the "Seventh Energy Forum in Beirut" organized by the Lebanese Centre for the Preservation of Energy and announced to citizens that Lebanon is witnessing a “great progress” in renewable energy in 2016.  Nazarian boasted that the public sector has put in place three solar energy centres producing each 1 megawatt in addition to another 20 megawatts from central solar energy centres.  According to As Safir newspaper, Lebanon currently needs 3200 megawatts of electricity of which only 1600 megawatts are being produced.  To be noted that the production capacity of each megawatt is circa 4348 amperes which can cover 217 houses.  Thus, three megawatts can serve 651 houses.  Nazarian insisted on the importance of partnership between the private and the public sectors at the level of energy and sustainable development.  He further highlighted the role of the Central Bank which is providing loans to the private sector.  The Minister added that the Ministry of Energy is extending efforts so that the public sector sets up circa 20 megawatts of solar energy by 2020.  He announced that negotiations are currently on-going in collaboration with the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, so as to set the purchasing cost of energy from the three technically eligible companies so as to undertake a public bidding for 200 megawatts worth of wind energy.  These negotiations are carried out via a ministerial committee including the PM and the Ministry of Finance. (

As Safir, September 22, 2016)

 

Whilst farmers continue to face problems in marketing their produce at the onset of every season, the Ministry of Agriculture continues to adopt ad-hoc and erroneous decisions to address the problem.  Indeed, following the decision of the current Minister of Agriculture, Akram Shehayeb, to reverse his earlier decision to freeze import of fruits and vegetables from Syria in view of the inability to apply this decision, the Minister has now decided to impose a prior authorisation for the import of apples, pears, and frozen potato.  This decision should be in force all year long.  However, this improvised decision came about yesterday following the meeting of the Minister with a delegation of farmers presided by Ibrahim Tarshishi and who requested a ban on imports of such produce.  For his part, the president of the association of Lebanese farmers, Antoine Howayek, noted in a statement yesterday that the "responsibility for the crisis in marketing the apple produce rests primarily with Minister Shehayeb" who has not worked seriously to approve a series of measures which would salvage the harvest and bring back the competitiveness of Lebanese apples through decreasing its costs through subsidising its transportation costs to the Arab region as was the practice before.  To be noted, farmers from Akkar had complained of severe losses because of inability to move their produce given the challenges faced in export. On the other hand, statistics of agricultural exports issued by the Chamber of Trade, Industry and Agriculture in Zahleh showed an increase in agricultural exports.  This increase is unprecedented since the start of the Syrian crisis.  Indeed, the agricultural licenses issued by the Chamber in Zahleh reached 3402 between the periods of 2/1/2016 and up to 18/7/2016 compared to 3304 for the same period last year, while the rise in total value of agricultural exports, compared to the same period last year, soared to 97%. According to the Chamber, this increase in due to the monetary increase in the value of agricultural exports as well as the increase in the volume of products exported via maritime means. (Assafir, Al-akhbar, Al-Diyar and L’Orient le Jour 17 & 21 September 2016)

 

The economic crisis in Lebanon continues to escalate given the nebulous political situation at the local, regional and international levels and the escalating national debt.  Meanwhile, the banking sector continues to retain solid and strong indicators. According to the statistics of the Banks' Association and the Ministry of Finance, the national debt has increased by USD 489.55 million, reaching USD 73.38 billion in July 2016 compared to USD 72.89 billion in June 2016.  On annual basis, the national debt grew by USD 4.19 billion in 2016 on top of USD 69.19 billion recorded in 2015.  The performance of various economic sectors remained sluggish especially the real estate sector as well as industrial exports.  According to Byblos Bank real estate indicators, this sector has reached its lowest score during the last 36 quarters.  Industrial exports decreased by 18% during the second quarter of 2016 reaching USD 667 million compared to USD 812.9 million during the same period of last year according to the industrial information bureau of the Ministry of Industry.  The indicator of retail sales noted a decrease during the last summer and which was described as "worrying" by the president of the Lebanese Franchise Association, Charles Arbid.  This decrease was mostly noted within important retail goods and reached some 58% of total retail sales. Meanwhile, the annual newsletter of the Banks' Association noted a 2,65% increase in the aggregate banks budget amounting to LBP 7,444 billion and reaching LBP 287,823 billion, i.e USD190.93 billion, by the end of July 2016. (An-Nahar, Al-Diyar, Al-Mustaqbal 11,12 & 21 September 2016)

 

Previous related news: 

USD188 billion in bank assets while Lebanon still survives on transfers of expatriates

 

Public, economic institutions, as well as CSO of Tripoli and North Lebanon persist in their attempts to revive the deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon’s second capital.  In its issue of September 10th, L’Orient le Jour focused on current work plans to rehabilitate the railways which link Tripoli to Abbudyeh on the border with Syria, and which is likely to start soon as per the President of the Chamber of Tripoli and North Lebanon, Tufic Dabbussi.  This new development follows the release of funds allocated for the first phase this project by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and which amount to USD 20 million.  To be noted that this railway link is expected to play an important role in the future reconstruction of Syria.  The CDR engineer in charge of this project noted that the overall cost requires an additional USD 60 million, adding that the CDR is now discussing with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) the likelihood of receiving this balance as a loan.  Also, and according to the newspaper, both Lebanon and the IDB have suggested to the World Bank that it joins the project as a partner and the latter is considering this option. Meanwhile, the Rashid Karameh International Exhibition Centre (RKIEC) in Tripoli remains comatose because of a number of factors namely the laws which should regulate the management of these premises, the unstable security situation and the size of private sector investment and that is according to the Centre’s CEO, Hussam Qobaiter. A reminder that the project was first established in the 1960s, in order to foster the development of the marginalized areas of the North including the city of Tripoli.  Meanwhile, Tripoli is in the midst of preparing for the launch of the round table to combat increasing poverty, an initiative organized by the Syndicate of Engineers in the North in response to calls for social and economic stakeholders in the North who are also calling for an emergency social-economic conference to come up with a comprehensive social and economic plan for all marginalized areas in the region. (L’Orient le Jour and Al Mustakbal, September 10th, 12th and 15th)

 

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New attempts to revive the waning economic situation in Tripoli and the North

 

In its issue of today, Ad Diyar published a report on the economic situation in Lebanon.  The newspaper noted that the economic stalemate was shaken during the Eid al Adha especially in the tourism sector.  This improvement however, only lasted for a few days and returned to its usual condition shortly after the Eid ended in the Arab and Gulf countries.  According to the General Secretary of the Union of Syndicates of Touristic institutions in Lebanon, Jean Beyruti, hotels occupancy rates was between 80-85% during the Eid.  He added that this is a good turnout.  The General Secretary of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon, Wadih Kanaan, noted for his part that the average occupancy in hotels in Beirut during Adha reached 70% and reached 65% in mountain resorts where festivals were taking place with 55% during weekdays while shooting up to 100% during weekends.  The situation was similar in restaurants according to the president of the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes and Pastry Shops, Tony al Rami, who added that the situation was average during the holidays and focused on internal visitors as well as returnees from the Gulf.  Rami also pointed out to the upcoming Beirut Restaurant Festival which will be hosted in Beirut on September 30th.  The event is organized by the Syndicate and will take place in Mar Mikhail over two days with the participation of 300 exhibitors. As such, the tourism sector has shown that it is the major dynamo for many other sectors, thus indirectly contributing 18% of the GNP and 9% directly. In addition, the WTTC expects that the direct and indirect contribution of the sector will increase by 6.1% annually and that is up to 2023 when its contribution to GDP will increase to USD 20.5 billion by the end of 2023.  This is expected to increase direct and indirect employment opportunities in the direct and indirect sectors of travel and tourism by 3.7% annually and so as to reach a total of 375,000 jobs at the end of 2024. (Al- Diyar, September 16, 2016)

 

Al Akhbar once again highlights the issue of unemployment in Lebanon focusing on a study carried out by the UNDP on the realities of the job market in Lebanon (c.f. http://bit.ly/2cwMFeZ) which estimated that Lebanon needs to create 23,000 job opportunities annually and that is between 2013 and 2023 at a time when the job market was only able to create between 12 to 15,000 jobs during the past ten years.  The study noted that the percentage of unemployed amongst the youth between15 to 29 years, which constitute 28% of the overall population, reached 34%, representing 66% of the total unemployed, while the share of youth emigrants was estimated at 44% of total emigration. The study also notes that the rise of youth unemployment and migration is due to the fact that 41% of youth work in jobs which do not match their training as well as to shortfalls in the education and training sector. The newspaper article went on to say that the gap between job seekers and existing job descriptions in the industry varies between 10 to 15,000 jobs, and between 20 to 30,000 jobs in tourism.  Furthermore, data reveals the existence of 5,000 industrial outfits employing around 90,000 workers. On the other hand, the total number of people employed in the hospitality and leisure businesses is estimated at 155,000 employees who are distributed amongst 6,000 permanent outfits and 4,000 seasonal outfits.  At the level of the public sector, and according to the same source, some 17,000 posts in the public sector remain unfilled because of government paralysis, at a time when there is a significant surplus in the professional sector (lawyers, doctors, engineers, and pharmacists). (Al-Akhbar 14 September 2016)

 

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New analysis on Lebanese labor market: the problem of unemployment is structural

Chaos in the labor market in the absence of planning, and career orientation

Unemployment deep-rooted in the economy while counter measures piecemeal and superficial

 

Last week, the Lebanese-American Chamber announced that it will be organizing a study tour to the US headlined “Silicon Valley Campaign for Lebanon’s Start-Ups”.  The said tour is taking place between September 12th and 17th in collaboration with Start-Up Megaphone.  It includes field visits to the most important international US companies namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google (c.f. previous news : http://bit.ly/2ctvmfw).  In an interview with Al- Diyar newspaper, the president of the Lebanese-American Chamber Salim Zeeni noted that the Chamber has succeeded in laying Lebanese foundation in the international capital of business and finance, New York, and that is for some years now.  Now, the Chamber is trying to penetrate the capital of ICT through Silicon Valley where it hopes to have a pied-à-terre especially that the Lebanese have high capabilities in this field.  Zeeni added by saying that the indicator for this is the fact that the Lebanese have set up knowledge companies following the Central Bank decision # 331 and which is a first step that will build for excellent initiatives in the start-ups sector in Lebanon.  To be noted that the Lebanese Central Bank had issued memorandum 331 on December 2013 which allows banks and financial institutions to invest up to 3% of their own funds in start-ups and business incubators in the field of ICT, as part of its aim to boost economic growth and curtail unemployment. (Al Diyar 11 September 2016)