Home » LEBANON BRIEF » Issue July 2018
Lebanon’s fiscal deficit widened from $161.58M by February 2017 to $865.03M in the first two months of 2018 mainly due to three factors: the passing of the public sector pay hikes in Q4 2017, the ... read more
According to the Ministry of Industry, the total value of industrial exports increased by an annual 6.15% to reach $856.6M by April 2018. In term of imports, the total value of imports of industrial ... read more
The Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) released a statement by BLOM Bank that clarifies the trades on its listed shares as well on its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), performed by Banorabe S.A SPF, one of the ... read more
According to Bank Audi’s unaudited consolidated financial statements, the bank’s Net profit for 2018’s first half (H1) totaled $265.39M compared to $212.76M in the same period last year. The Net interest ... read more
According to BLC Bank’s unaudited consolidated financial statements, the bank’s profit for 2018’s first half (H1) totaled $24.4M compared to $24.9M in the same period last year. However, the net profit ... read more
The consolidated financial statements of Byblos Bank revealed a 0.53% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in profits to $66.63M in the first half of 2018 (H1 2018). In details, the incremental rise in profits came ... read more
BLOM Bank published today its unaudited financial results for the first half of 2018. In a difficult environment characterized by a slowing economy, higher taxes on banks, and continuing regional ... read more
According to Global Blue, tourist spending rose by 4.99% since year start in the first half of the year. The highest number of refund transactions was executed during the month of January with 27% of the ... read more
The value of cleared checks hit $32.84B by June 2018 according to the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL), down by 2.46% from the same period last year. In addition, the total number of cleared checks ... read more
According to Bank BEMO’s unaudited consolidated financial statements, the bank’s profit for 2018’s first half (H1) totaled $8.18M compared to $7.89M in the same period last year. The boost in the bank’s ... read more
According to the data from the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (LRC), the number of RE transactions, which may include one or more realties, decreased by a yearly 18.20% to reach 27,472 ... read more
On July 24, 2018, Solidere elected a new Board of Directors (BoD) headed by Nasser Chammaa. Members include Nader Hariri, Mohamed Choucair, Hassan Kabbani, Beirut Mayor Jamal Itani, Ghazi Youssef, Ricardo ... read more
Lebanon’s gross public debt hit $82.5B in May 2018, registering a surge of 7.53% y-o-y according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Furthermore, Local Currency Debt which forms 56.75% of Total Debt had ... read more
According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), average consumer prices in Lebanon went up by an annual 6% in the first half of 2018 compared to 4.42% in H1 2017. In fact, consumer prices went ... read more
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the total number of tourist arrivals to Lebanon increased by an annual 3.26% to 853,087 tourists by June 2018. The number of European tourists (constituting the ... read more
According to the central bank of Lebanon , Cement deliveries decreased by an annual 4.13% by May 2018 to stand at 1.92M tons, compared to 2M tons by May 2017. This can be explained by the decrease in the ... read more
In the First half of 2018, activity at the Port of Beirut (PoB) improved, with the port’s revenues recording a 2.29% growth to stand at $118.7M compared to $116M for the same period in 2017. Total ... read more
The balance sheet of the Lebanese Central Bank (BdL) revealed that total assets reached $130.76B in mid- July 2018, recording a 1.53% increase from Mid-June’s 2018 level. BDL’s Foreign assets ... read more
On the 10st of July 2018, the ordinary general assembly of Ciments Blancs decided to distribute dividends for the financial year of 2017, as follows: Dividend payments shall be carried out starting the ... read more
The activity at Rafic Hariri International Airport improved in the first half of the year as the total number of passengers rose by an annual 11.94% to 3.9M by June 2018. The rise could be partly ... read more
According to Kafalat, the number of issued loan guarantees stood at 223 guarantees in the first half of 2018 (H1), compared to 311 guarantees issued in H1 2017. The overall value of the guarantees also ... read more
Bank Audi’s board of directors invited all holders of common shares to attend an Extraordinary General Meeting that will be held at the bank’s headquarters in Audi Plaza, Bab Idriss, Beirut Commercial ... read more
According to Ernest and Young’s Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey, Beirut’s hotel occupancy rate slipped from 65.5% by May 2017 to 58.6% by May 2018. In fact, the repercussions of the resignation of Prime ... read more
Lebanon’s trade deficit dropped by 1.1% year on year (y-o-y) hitting $6.64B by May 2018 as an outcome of a 9.7% annual increase in exports to $1.32B, which outweighed the 0.5% increase in imports touching ... read more
According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets grew by 5.65% year-to-date (y-t-d) and by 12.28% year-on-year (y-o-y), to stand at $232.29B by May 2018. In details, ... read more
According to the Orders of Engineers in Beirut and Tripoli, the number of construction permits fell by a yearly 14.5% to reach 6,097 by May 2018. The Construction Area Authorized by Permits (CAP) also ... read more
The latest swap operation engineered in May 2018 between the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Banque du Liban (BDL), and commercial banks sent the Lebanese Balance of payments (BOP) into a surplus totaling ... read more
The Ordinary General Assembly meeting held on Tuesday the 3rd of July 2018 decided to distribute the dividends of 2017 as of the 30th of July at a rate of LBP 3,870 ($2.56) net per share (a dividend ... read more
Rymco’s board of directors invited its shareholders to attend an ordinary General Assembly at the company’s headquarters in Chiah at 10 o’clock on the 2nd of August 2018. On the board’s agenda, along with ... read more
On 20/3/2018 Bank Audi’s board of directors has decided to redeem its 1,500,000 Preferred Shares “G” at the issuance price of $100. The operation was approved by Banque du Liban and all the preferred ... read more
According to the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL), the value of cleared checks reached $27.7B by May 2018, having contracted by 1.48% compared to the same period in 2017. Similarly, the total number of ... read more
According to the Central Bank’s (BDL) balance sheet, total assets rose by 9.29% year-to-date (YTD) to stand at $129.24B in June 2018. In details, Foreign assets (constituting 34.17% of BDL’s total assets) ... read more
In April 2018, the CEDRE conference was held in Paris to provide financial assistance to Lebanon to cope with its economic problems that were aggravated by the inflows of more than one million Syrian ... read more
شهدَ الطلب العالميّ على السندات السيادية تقلّبات خلال النصف الأوّل للسنة. وأدت سياسة بنك الاحتياطي الفدرالي الأمريكي التقييدية والبيانات الاقتصاديّة الّتي شهدت تحسناً ملموساً إلى طلب خفيف على الأدوات التي ... read more
This article was translated from its original English version found here to Arabic. نشر جزء من هذا التقرير في جريدة النهار في 09 تموز 2018 .MTV وكذلك في فقرة الإقتصاد على شاشة ال الخلاصة يقوم هذا ... read more
Lebanon’s BLOM Bond Index (BBI) continued the recovery this week, rising by 0.55% to reach 91.81 points on higher demand along the whole yield curve except for the 10 year Eurobonds . The BBI recovered ... read more
It seems that the political deadlock is weighing heavily on investor confidence and appears to have overshadowed the release of the banks’ positive results for the first half of the year. The BLOM Stock ... read more
Lebanese Forex Market The Lebanese Pound traded within the range of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 by the week ending July 27th, at the same range as last week. ... read more
During the week ending on July 19th, Broad Money (M3) fell by a weekly LBP 223B ($148M) to reach LBP 211,146B ($140.06B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 1.63% and rose by 1.47% since the start of the year. M1 ... read more
BBI retreated this week, falling by 0.16% to reach 91.31 points. The JP Morgan Emerging Markets’ Bond Index (EMBI) recorded a 0.45% weekly uptick to stand at 783.09 points. As such, the yields on the 5 ... read more
Lebanese Forex Market The Lebanese Pound traded within the range of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 by the week ending July 27th, at the same range as last week. ... read more
During the week ending on July 12th, Broad Money (M3) fell by a weekly LBP 52B ($34M) to reach LBP 211,369B ($140.21B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 1.82% and rose by 1.58% since the start of the year. M1 ... read more
The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) rose by 0.65% to reach 1,042.89 points by the week ending July 27th. The market capitalization rose marginally from last week’s $10.09B to $10.14B this week. On average, 53,857 ... read more
20/07/2018 13/07/2018 %Change YTD Euro / LP 1,755.33 1,751.82 0.20% Euro / Dollar 1.1644 1.1621 0.20% NEER Index** 115.62 115.45 0.15% 4.24% Lebanese Forex Market The Lebanese Pound traded ... read more
The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) registered another weekly loss of 0.23% to reach 1,036.14 points by the week ending July 20th. The market capitalization also retreated from last week’s $10.09B to $10.07B this ... read more
The delay in the Lebanese cabinet formation has weighed down on the BLOM Bond Index (BBI). In fact, the BBI retreated this week, falling by 2.15% to reach 91.46 points. The JP Morgan Emerging ... read more
During the week ending on July 5th, Broad Money (M3) fell by a weekly LBP 329B ($218M) to reach LBP 211,421B ($140B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 1.93% and rose by 1.60% since the start of the year. M1 ... read more
Lebanese Forex Market The Lebanese Pound traded within the range of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 by the week ending July 13th, at the same range as last week. ... read more
The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) slipped by a weekly 0.46%, to 1,038.5 points by the week ending July 13th. The market capitalization also retreated from last week’s $10.14B to $10.09B this week. However, the ... read more
Lebanon’s BLOM Bond Index (BBI) continued the recovery this week, rising by 2.43% to reach 93.47 points. It is worthy to note that the BLOM Bond Index rose by 7.54% since its last dip recorded on July 2nd ... read more
During the week ending on June 28th, Broad Money (M3) increased by a weekly LBP 888B ($589M) to reach LBP 211,750B ($140B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 2.22% and rose by 1.76% since the start of the year. ... read more
Lebanese Forex Market The Lebanese Pound traded within the range of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 by the week ending July 7th, at the same range as last week. The ... read more
The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) declined by a weekly 0.53%, to stand at 1,043.25 points by July 06, 2018. The downtick was mirrored by the market capitalization which stalled from last week’s $10.34B to ... read more
During the week ending on June 14th, Broad Money (M3) increased by a weekly LBP 395B ($262M) to reach LBP 211,629B ($140B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 2.65% y-o-y and rose by 1.70% since the start of the ... read more
Lebanon’s BLOM Bond Index (BBI) recuperated this week, climbing by 2.85% to reach 91.25 points. It surpassed the JP Morgan Emerging Markets’ Bond Index (EMBI) which recorded a weekly 0.81% uptick to stand ... read more
The Real GDP Growth appears to be declining in the third quarter of the year following the disappointing PMI reading in July compared to the previous months. The BLOM Lebanon Purchasing Managers’ Index ... read more
Global FDI flows fell substantially in 2017 on account of rising political and economic instability. FDI inflows to developed countries suffered the biggest annual loss. Saudi Arabia witnessed a wave of ... read more
The stock markets have taken investors on a roller coaster ride. 2018 began with enthusiasm for global stock markets. Strong corporate earnings and positive economic data helped many indices hit multiple ... read more
Abstract In July 2018, the IMF presented a report promoting “inclusive growth” in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and it emphasizes that inclusive growth is a modern responsibility shared by ... read more
The economic slowdown of the Lebanese economy has persisted for several years with marginal growth in GDP levels, and the beginning of 2018 was no different. In fact, the private sector’s business ... read more
This article was translated from its original English version found here to Arabic. نشر جزء من هذا التقرير في جريدة النهار في 09 تموز 2018 .MTV وكذلك في فقرة الإقتصاد على شاشة ال الخلاصة يقوم هذا ... read more
Global demand for fixed income securities fluctuated during the first half of the year. In the US, a hawkish Fed and stronger than expected economic data across the US accompanied by the China trade war ... read more