New debt management strategy for 2014-16 and cautious optimism following the drop in global oil prices

The current Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, indicated that he expected the global drop in oil process to decrease the cost of financing the deficit of Electricité du Liban by USD 400 – 500 million yearly, while the said deficit has now reached LBP 3200 billion.  The fall in oil prices, according to Hassan Khalil, will have positive repercussions on public finance. Hassan Khalil, who was speaking at a Press Conference he convened last Monday to present the mid-term strategy to manage the national debt for 2014 – 2016 as well as to outline the new timetable for issuing LBP bonds, clarified that this strategy aims at putting in place a plan for appropriate management of debt.  He further added that Lebanon is facing several economic challenges as the national economy has had to deal with various threats during the past few years the last of which is the results of the sizeable displacement of the Syrian population into Lebanon in addition to the repercussions of the regional crisis, the situation of tourism and the overall stalemate in the economy.  All this concurred to reduce growth to 1.5-2% in 2014. Hassan Khalil concluded that expectations for 2015 are not very optimistic if the overall situation does not radically change especially since the percentage of debt to GDP in 2014 is still high with 142%.
(Source: Al-Diyar & As-Safir 6 December, 2015)