Economy

U.S. Oil Benchmark Jumps 8%, Surpasses $100 After Failed U.S.-Iran Talks

This is Beirut 10:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Donald Trump Lebanon Israel United States USA

The US oil benchmark rebounded above $100 a barrel on Monday after peace talks between the United States and Iran failed to make a breakthrough, and with US President Donald Trump ordering a blockade of Iranian ports. Shortly after trading began, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery rose around eight percent to $104.50, ...

Facts About Strait of Hormuz War Blockage

This is Beirut 18/03 14:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Gulf Israel Middle East USA Iran Hormuz

Key facts and figures about the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route virtually paralyzed by the Middle East war. Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass through the waterway in peacetime. The war erupted on February 28 when the US and Israel began bombing Iran, prompting it to retaliate with ...

The CMA CGM Foundation Establishes an Emergency Fund in Support of the City of Tripoli

This is Beirut 13/02 13:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon

The CMA CGM Foundation has decided to mobilize a $1 million emergency fund to provide immediate support in response to the disaster affecting the city of Tripoli. A meeting took place between the President of the CMA CGM Foundation, Tanya Saadé Zeenny, and the Minister of Social Affairs, Haneen Sayed, aiming to establishing this emergency fund. ...

ABL Secretary General Warns Against Risks of Unrealistic Implementation of the Gap Law

This is Beirut 29/01 13:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

ABL Banks Banque du Liban Lebanon Central Bank of Lebanon

The Secretary General of the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), Fadi Khalaf, warned against the risks of an unrealistic implementation of the Gap Law in the introduction of the ABL’s January 2026 monthly report. According to Khalaf, this draft law, which aims to unlock the issue of bank deposits, can only succeed if the liquidity required ...

ExplainerAfter the Vote: Exposing the Gap Law’s Broken Promises

Claudia Groeling 2025-12-29 19:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam International Monetary Fund Lebanon Banque du Liban Gap Law Banks

Lebanon’s cabinet on December 19 approved one of the most controversial pieces of legislation since the country’s financial collapse in 2019, adopting the so-called “Gap Law” in a narrow vote that has reignited public anger and raised serious concerns among economists, legal experts, and international observers. Backed by 13 ministers ...

The IMF Sets an Example Through Lebanese Depositors: Unpacking One the Most Dangerous Laws in the Country’s History

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 15:40 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Banque du Liban International Monetary Fund economy banking system banks

What the government presented as the ‘Financial Gap Law’ is not merely a piece of financial legislation; it is a text that lays the foundations for the post-adoption economic order. It does not conceal its objective but states it calmly: ending a crisis that has lasted for years instead of resolving it, writing off deposits instead of ...

FocusGap Law: The Programmed Destruction of the Banking Sector

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 15:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Economy Banks BDL Gap Law

Presented as a restructuring measure, the Gap Law organizes a methodical liquidation of the Lebanese banking sector. Behind complex technical mechanisms—loss hierarchy, balance-sheet cleanup, recapitalization—lies a clear political choice: to sacrifice banks to settle a public crisis that the state refuses to assume. This text does not reform ...

SpotlightGap Law: A Legalized Expropriation of Deposits

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 12:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Banks BDL Lebanon Economy Gap Law

Wrapped in the technical language of financial restructuring, the Gap Law is presented as a necessary step to correct the imbalance of Lebanon’s banking system. Behind this rhetoric lies a far more serious reality: the legalization of a massive expropriation of bank deposits, in blatant disregard of property rights, legal certainty, and the very ...

FocusThe Law of Financial “Massacre”: When Nawaf Salam and “Kulluna Irada” Strip Depositors of Their Savings

Eleonore Stephan for Huna Lubnan 2025-12-21 09:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon IMF Banks BDL Economy

At one of the darkest moments in Lebanon’s national life, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is promoting a so-called “financial gap law” as a technical solution, while in reality it legalizes suffering and formalizes the confiscation of Lebanese citizens’ savings. The so-called “Kulluna Irada” law does not merely steal money; it also ...

SpotlightGap Law: How the Lebanese State Erases Its Responsibility

This is Beirut 2025-12-20 18:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Banks Lebanon Economy Gap Law IMF

Every financial crisis raises a central question: who should bear the losses? In a liberal economy grounded in responsibility, the answer is clear: those who decided, spent, borrowed, and ultimately failed. The Gap Law, however, offers a radically opposite answer. It methodically organizes the erasure of the Lebanese state’s responsibility and ...

SpotlightGap Law: Nawaf Salam and the IMF, Architects of a Legalized Spoliation

This is Beirut 2025-12-20 16:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Gap Law Economy Banks

By claiming on Monday a commitment to “deliver justice to depositors,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam did more than distort reality: with the active backing of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he sealed one of the greatest financial and moral abdications in Lebanon’s history. The Gap Law, presented as a lifesaving legal framework, is in ...

Financial Gap Law: Farewell to a Lifetime’s Savings… Where Is Karim Souhaid?

This is Beirut 2025-12-20 15:55 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Banks Banque du Liban Gap Law

The draft Financial Gap Law, also known as the Financial Regularization Law, is set to be discussed at the Cabinet table on Monday. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has praised the project, presenting it as the first comprehensive legal framework to recover deposits and address the financial gap in a systematic and fair manner, within available means, ...