Lebanon hopes to raise billions to stave off economic crisis
Beirut eyes investment by donor countries and financial institutions at CEDRE conference
Lebanon is hoping to raise billions of dollars at a France- led donor meeting tomorrow to stave off an economic crisis in theworld’s third most indebted country.
Growth in the small Mediterranean country has plummeted in the wake of repeated political crises, compounded by the 2011 breakout of civil war in neighbouring Syria.
The Syrian war has sent one million Syrian refugees in flight to Lebanon, a country of only four million before the conflict.
The Paris conference comes as Lebanon gears up for its first general elections in almost a decade in May, after parliament renewed its ownmandate three times since 2009.
The Middle Eastern country hopes donor countries and financial institutions at the CEDRE conference will help stimulate the economy through investment.
Lebanon hopes to raise “between $ 6 billion [ Dh22 billion] and $ 7 billion in the shape of credit facilities and funds,” Nadim Munla, an adviser to Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri, has said.
Parliament last week adopted a 2018 government budget, projecting a deficit of $ 4.8 billion — more than double the
deficit in 2011, when Syria’s war started.
Economist Paul Doueihy says this growing budget shortfall means “the probability of a systemic crisis is now higher than ever”. To avoid bankruptcy, the state should “urgently” reduce its spending, he and others say.
“But the state keeps increasing its expenses,” Doueihy says.
In July, parliament approved an increase in public salaries, estimated to cost more than $ 1 billion per year.
Nassib Ghobril, head researcher at Byblos Bank, says the state has also given jobs to 26,000 newemployees over the past three years.
In February, the International Monetary Fund warned that Lebanese authorities needed to address “rapidly rising” public debt.
It stood at 150 per cent of GDP in 2017 — the third highest worldwide after Japan and Greece, the international body said.
With a budget deficit last year equivalent to more than 10 per cent of GDP, the IMF signalled a “critical need for a fiscal consolidation plan” and cuts in spending.
On top of budget trouble, fears remain over the devaluation of the national currency.
The central bank in November drew more than $ 800 million from its foreign reserves to maintain the fixed exchange rate of around 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, in place since 1997.
But structural factors behind the currency’s fragility persist, experts say.