The Lebanese Minister of Trade and Economy Raed Khoury said that Lebanon would sign a six-month deal with the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to restructure the economy which is dependent on banking and remittances from Lebanese expats. According to
, McKinsey will detail a plan and work with several ministries “to formulate a new economic vision for the Arab world’s most indebted nation.” The current model of the Lebanese economy survived political crises such as the two-year presidential vacuum, the resignation of the Prime Minister, and the influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees. However, this model is no longer sustainable. The new plan aims to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio. The Lebanese parliament passed a budget in 2017. The country didn’t have a budget before. An associate fellow at Chatham House in London named David Butter said that detailing a plan for Lebanon is a bit tricky. The firm will have to analyze “services, financial flows and parallel economies such as the one controlled by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which are hard to quantify.”
Mayor Jamal Itani is planning to revive Beirut
The Mayor of Beirut Jamal Itani is also working on improving the economy. His
includes bringing
back to Downtown Beirut. Pedestrians did not have access to Nejmeh Square. So, the business slowed down. Recently, the Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri gave instructions to the Lebanese Army to open the
access to Nejmeh Square again for pedestrians
. The Mayor talked to the retailers, and he said that he could potentially lower the rents in the Downtown District of Beirut.
