Home » LEBANON BRIEF » Issue December 2017
According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), average consumer prices increased by 4.39% y-o-y by November 2017 as reflected by the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) which rose from 96.03 ... read more
According to the ministry of Finance, in August 2017, transfers to EDL reached LBP 318.20B ($211.08M). Indeed, transfers rose considerably by LBP 482.86B ($320.30M) between Jan-August 2016 (LBP 785.71B) ... read more
Port of Beirut (PoB) recorded a slight 0.23% yearly drop in its revenues to reach $218.1M by November 2017. By November, total container activity including transshipment (TEU+TS) rose by an annual 13.02% ... read more
Lebanon’s Balance of Payments (BoP) registered a $887.8M deficit in October 2017 and a $1.08B deficit during the first 10 months of the year, compared to a deficit of $125.3M by October 2016. By October ... read more
According to the balance sheet of the Lebanese Central Bank (BdL), total assets rose by 15.36% year-to-date (y-t-d) and 0.5% on a monthly basis to reach $118.03B in mid-December. In details, foreign assets ... read more
According to Kafalat, the number of loan guarantees dropped from 665 guarantees by November 2016 to 509 guarantees by November 2017. The overall value of the guarantees dropped by 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) ... read more
According to the Lebanese Customs, Lebanon’s trade deficit slipped by a marginal 0.22% year-on-year (y-o-y) to stand at $13.21B by October 2017, as exports shrank by a yearly 4.56% to $2.37B, while imports ... read more
According to data from the Lebanese Cadastre Registry, the number of real estate (R.E) transactions registered an annual uptick of 14.72%, to reach 86,524 transactions in the first 11 months of 2017. As ... read more
According to the Association of Banks (ABL), Lebanon’s gross public debt registered a yearly rise of 5.32%, to reach $78.47B by October 2017. In details, debt in local currency, LBP, (63.1% of the total ... read more
According to the Association of Lebanese Car Importers (AIA), the total number of newly registered commercial and passenger cars slightly rose by an annual 1.31% to stand at 36,453 cars by Nov. 2017. In ... read more
As part of its international development strategy, SGBL has recently signed an agreement to acquire KBL Richelieu Banque Privée in France and KBL Monaco Private Bankers, which are both subsidiaries of the ... read more
Since the end of Summer 2017 through October of the year, the activity at the Rafic Hariri International Airport has witnessed substantial growth. The positive developments on the political scene including ... read more
According to the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL), the total number and value of cleared checks fell by 1.42% and 0.49% year-on-year (y-o-y) to stand at 11.13 million (M) and $61.98 billion (B), ... read more
Lebanon’s fiscal deficit narrowed from $2.53B by August 2016 to $1.39B by August 2017. The contraction is mainly attributed to the 14.85% annual increase recorded in public revenues, which also outweighed ... read more
According to the Central Bank’s balance sheet, total assets reached $115.93B in November 2017, up by 13.3% since the beginning of the year. In details, Foreign assets (composing 36.14% of total assets) ... read more
The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) recorded a weekly rise of 0.72% to reach 1,144.62 points on Dec.22, 2017. Accordingly, the market capitalization reached $10.43B this Friday, up from last week’s $10.35B. ... read more
During the week ending on December 7th, Broad Money (M3) declined by a weekly LBP 103B ($68M) to reach LBP 206,536B ($137B). On a yearly basis, M3 grew by 4.81% and by 3.71% since the start of the year. ... read more
Lebanese Forex Market Demand for the local currency on the Lebanese forex market steadied, with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514. 5 with a ... read more
The Blom Bond Index (BBI) rose by 0.33% over the week to stand at 100.72 points by December 21, 2017. The BBI outperformed the JP Morgan Emerging Markets’ Bond Index (EMBI) which registered a 0.08% ... read more
Demand for the local currency on the Lebanese forex market steadied, with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514. 5 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 since ... read more
During the week of Nov. 16th – Nov. 23rd 2017, Broad Money (M3) declined by a weekly LBP 529B ($351M) to reach LBP 206,071B ($137B). Nonetheless, on a yearly basis, M3 grew by 5.37% and by 3.53% since the ... read more
The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) recorded its largest weekly uptick of 1.56% since the resignation crisis early-on in November. As such, the BSI kept on recovering to reach 1,136.40 points on Dec.15, 2017. This ... read more
The Blom Bond Index (BBI) rose by a marginal 0.18% over the week to stand at 100.39 points by Dec.14, 2017. In its turn, the JP Morgan Emerging Markets’ Bond Index (EMBI) also rose by a weekly 0.18%, ... read more
During the week of Nov. 16th – Nov. 23rd 2017, Broad Money (M3) declined by a weekly LBP 529B ($351M) to reach LBP 206,071B ($137B). Nonetheless, on a yearly basis, M3 grew by 5.37% and by 3.53% since the ... read more
The stock market’s recovery continued this week and was supported by the withdrawal of the PM’s resignation, yet it remained shy as the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) registered a 0.28% uptick to stand at 1,118.95 ... read more
The BLOM Bond Index (BBI) stood at 100.21 points, up 0.4% from last week but still below the pre-crisis level of 102.38 points. However, by Dec.7th, Hariri’s resignation has been suspended and the first ... read more
Lebanese Forex Market Demand for the local currency on the Lebanese forex market steadied, with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514. 5 with a mid-price of ... read more
Despite the persisting declines in the levels of output and new work, contraction within the private sector economy soothed in November. Although employment levels kept on deteriorating, the rate at which ... read more
“Economic development worldwide is getting a significant boost from air transport. This wider economic benefit is being generated by increasing connections between cities – enabling the flow of ... read more
For thousand years, physical tokens have been used as means of payment, where a direct exchange of sellers’ goods and buyers’ tokens allows them to achieve an immediate and final settlement. Nonetheless, ... read more
Lebanon has been through many tough economic times, but none quite like current times. The novelty in the economic slowdown Lebanon has been witnessing since 2011 is most strikingly its prolonged nature. ... read more