Central Bank Forensic Audit by Alvarez: Early Findings

Alvarez & Marsal just completed its first preliminary forensic audit of the Lebanese Central Bank. The audit company was supposed to deliver its initial audit report in September 2022, but difficulties in collecting information and reviewing Central Bank documents delayed the delivery by 8 months. The report is 331 pages long and divided into 14 sections. Even though this is still a preliminary report, there's plenty of evidence to suggest irregular accounting practices, governance failures,…

GCC Accounts for 48% of Total Remittances to Lebanon

Remittances continue to serve as a vital source of support for the Lebanese economy and Lebanese families as they amount approximately $6 to $7 billion per year. Despite the COVID crisis and the global recession in the past years, remittances kept flowing from expats in support of their families, making Lebanon the third-highest recipient of remittances in terms of value in the MENA region, preceded only by Morocco and Egypt. So where's that money coming…
Baladi

Four Lebanese on Forbes MENA’s Most Powerful Business Women

2 years ago
Forbes published this year’s list of MENA’s most influential and successful businesswomen and four Lebanese women made it to the list. The ranking is based on several criteria including accomplishments achieved over the last year, ...
Critiques

BDL Foreign Reserves Dropped By Half a Billion Dollars in January ONLY!

2 years ago
If you’re still wondering how much it cost BDL to drop the lira exchange rate from 34,000 to below 20,000; the answer is $509 million dollars as reported by Megaphone News. This comes as part ...
Economics

Latest from Riad Salameh: Official Rate 1,507 No Longer Realistic

2 years ago
Lebanon Central Bank governor spoke to AFP earlier this today and revealed that Lebanon needs approximately between 12 and 15 billion dollars to kickstart recovery. He also added that the official exchange rate is ‘no ...
Economics

We Wasted 16 Billion Dollars Since 2019; Only 24% Were Used for Subsidies

2 years ago
When the economic crisis erupted in 2019, we still had 30 billion dollars left in the Central Bank. Two years later, we managed to waste 16 billion dollars and ONLY used 24% to back the ...
Economics

Lebanon Has Just Received $860 Million From the IMF

2 years ago
Lebanon’s Central Bank has reportedly received its share of the IMF’s new SDR allocation, totaling $860 million. SDRs are usually meant to help low-incoming and developing countries build reserve buffers and facilitate their recovery efforts, ...
Economics

Funds Held by Lebanese in Swiss Banks Up By $2.7 Billion in 2020

2 years ago
EM Economist & Former and previous Director of the Geo-economics and Strategy Programme (GESP) Alia Moubayed shared some insightful figures this week on the surge in funds held by Lebanese in Swiss Banks since 2019. ...
Critiques

Lebanon’s Public Debt Has Dropped by Over 80 Billion Dollars

2 years ago
Megaphone shared a very interesting report on how Lebanon’s public debt has dropped by over 80 billion dollars since last year, mainly due to two factors: – Eurobond prices have dropped sharply – Lebanese bonds ...
Economics

Cost of Fattoush Has Gone Up By 210%

2 years ago
Food prices have soared by up to 400% in December 2020 and Lebanon’s inflation rate has hit 84.9% in 2020, the highest since 2013. Last December, food prices have increased by up to 400% as ...
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