Lebanon

July 6, 2000

03:00 GMT

According to the latest BDL statistics, Lebanon registered a balance of payments (BoP) surplus in April 2000 of $20m compared to a $104.8m deficit in March and a $71m surplus in April 1999. The April

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Lebanon’s net total public debt rose 0.78% in April 2000 to $20.6bn from $20.4bn in March. Net domestic debt increased 1.73% to $15.19bn, while external debt went up by 1.79% to $5.4bn. On a year-to-y

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Revenue from customs duties, the government’s major source of income, went up by 27.4% in May from April, to $123.38m, while on a year-to-year basis it rose by 6.32% from $116.05m in May 1999. Revenue

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The High Customs Council revealed that the trade deficit widened in May from the previous month by 4.62% to $453m. For the first five months as a whole, the trade deficit was 7.6% narrower than for th

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Kuwait granted Lebanon a $35.2m loan

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The budget registered a primary deficit of $23.81m in May, as the deficit/spending ratio decreased to 46.28% from 56.73% in April 2000. The lower ratio was due to a 24.7% decrease in the deficit resul

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USD 7.9 billion is the estimated fortune of the richest Lebanese in the world, according to the US magazine Forbes. His name is Mr. Carlos Slim Helu (Mexico). The other ranked Lebanese are Messrs Rafi

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Coca Cola confirms the transfer of its regional office from Cyprus to Beirut. The firm has already invested USD 60 million in Lebanon and considers that the country offers high quality infrastructures

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Inflation: prices fell by 0.33% at the end of May (Ministry of Economy).© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

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Municipalities: loan from the World Bank to finance municipal infrastructures: USD 80 million over a period of 15 years with a grace period of 5 years.© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

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The Central Bank’s indicator: -16 points in April at 182.8, or a decrease of 5 points as compared to last year.© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

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The number of new industrial firms in Lebanon decreased

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Standard and Poor’s stated that it might lower the credit ratings of Lebanon and three of the country’s largest banks in the next couple of weeks due to the fact that Lebanon continues to be depressed

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Just as local equities appeared to have got over the worst following the relatively incident-free Israeli withdrawal from the south, up pops something else to knock them back down. The culprit this ti

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The Council of Ministers, held on June 21, approved the South Lebanon development plan elaborated by the CDR.