This Is Beirut 2024-03-21 16:51 - Reading : less than a minute
The Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) reported on Thursday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Lebanon for February 2024 recorded an increase of 1.06% compared to January 2024. This increase remains moderate compared to the rebounds recorded in other months of 2023 (33.27% in March and 5.35% in May). Additionally, the index rose by ...
Nicolas Sbeih 2024-03-21 08:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Poor Downtown Beirut, it does not deserve the fate it has endured for years. And, by a play of mirrors, poor Solidere, which does not deserve it either. The fates of the two are linked. And the current fleeting Ramadan revival will not change this torpor, which is not the result of chance, but rather the culmination of a long macabre ...
This Is Beirut 2024-03-20 22:24 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced on Wednesday that it had distributed “seeds, seedlings and fertilizers to more than 11,000 small-scale Lebanese farmers across the country.” The donation, totaling $1.1 million, is part of the Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) Activity. It aims to ...
This Is Beirut 2024-03-20 21:26 - Reading : less than a minute
Sources close to the Ministry of Finance told This Is Beirut on Wednesday that the funds allocated for retroactive pay raises for December and January, which were approved by the Council of Ministers on February 28, have been transferred to civil servants, military personnel and pensioners. These individuals will be able to withdraw the funds ...
Liliane Mokbel 2024-03-20 20:03 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
As long as minimum wage growth lags behind the inflation rate, salary adjustment measures remain an aberration and a futile economic absurdity. Much like a bottomless pit. Which pertinent indicator did the Price Index Committee use to support the increase in the minimum wage to LBP 18 million, while simultaneously allowing employers to decide the ...
2024-03-20 11:36 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Despite the looming threat of war, the 2024 tourist season is off to a promising start. With a string of holiday weekends including Catholic and Orthodox Easter, Eid al-Fitr and Labor Day, the current month bodes well for the tourism sector. The signs are quite encouraging! Against all odds, Lebanese citizens abroad continue to flock back ...
This Is Beirut 2024-03-19 21:28 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
The Price Index Committee, which met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of caretaker Minister of Labor Moustafa Bayram, approved an increase in the minimum wage in the private sector and a one hundred percent increase in school allowances. It was thus agreed to increase the minimum wage from LBP 9 to 18 million, which will be fully declared to ...
This Is Beirut 2024-03-18 20:28 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Lebanon rises to third place in the list of countries with the most miserable economy according to the 2023 Misery Index (HAMI) by Hanke, with a score of 266.1. Lebanon follows Argentina and Venezuela and precedes Syria, which ranks fourth. The HAMI uses readily available economic data to determine how "miserable" or "healthy" an economy is. The ...
Liliane Mokbel 2024-03-18 18:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
For nearly one year now, the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) has withdrawn around 32% of the Lebanese pound's circulating supply from the market. This action has successfully stabilized the black-market dollar exchange rate at approximately 89,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, an action that has also triggered a simultaneous increase in interbank ...
Liliane Mokbel 2024-03-17 16:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
The need for salary increases in the private sector is more than justified, especially given the skyrocketing triple-digit inflation and the 2024 Finance Law, which has seen taxes and levies multiplied tenfold to fortyfold. The concertation between economic organisms and the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers regarding a potential ...
Liliane Mokbel 2024-03-15 19:34 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
The stamp black market thrives openly, with prices soaring to somehow astronomical heights, even within ministries, occasionally. The crux lies in the necessity of affixing the fiscal stamp to almost all accounting formalities, under applicable laws. In the “digital age,” the ordinary taxpayer rightfully wonders why the Ministry of Finance, ...
This Is Beirut 2024-03-15 15:33 - Reading : less than a minute
Japanese arch-rivals Nissan and Honda said on Friday that they were exploring a strategic partnership in electric vehicles to face up to a "once-in-a-century" upheaval in the car industry. Analysts said that the move was aimed at catching up with Chinese competitors who have stolen a march in EVs while Japanese firms have lost ground by focusing ...