Lebanon\u2019s Economy Minister Amer Bisat has acknowledged his country\u2019s difficult relationship with Arab and Lebanese investors, saying that confidence was \u201clost very quickly\u201d during years of economic and financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Since 2019, Lebanon has been struggling with a historic fiscal crisis<\/a> caused by decades of corruption and mismanagement by the ruling elite. The prolonged collapse has left many investors wary and deprived people and businesses in the country of accessing their money stuck in the banking sector.<\/p>\n The crisis has slashed economic output, hollowed out public finances and eroded long-term trust in state institutions, while reform efforts have repeatedly stalled amid political deadlock.<\/p>\n \u201cOur relationship with our Arab investors is as \u2026 fractious or problematic as it is with the Lebanese investors,\u201d Mr Bisat told The National on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai. \u201cLet\u2019s not forget that we all went through a horrible period.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Bisat said the government was focused on practical measures to rebuild trust and show Lebanon\u2019s economic potential, even if progress remains gradual.<\/p>\n \u201cOur objective is to look forward and regain confidence. Confidence has been lost, unfortunately, and we lost it very quickly, and it\u2019s going to take a while to bring it back. We\u2019re trying to do the serious hard work of bringing back confidence, slowly but surely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Mediterranean country has been working to repair ties with Gulf countries after years of tension over the influence of the militant Hezbollah group. Hezbollah, weakened by a 14-month war with Israel, recently called on Saudi Arabia to open a new chapter in relations. The World Bank estimates the costs of reconstruction and recovery from the war at $11 billion.<\/p>\n Asked about Lebanon\u2019s reconstruction plans, Mr Bisat said most of the funding is expected to come from regional and international partners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the plan,\u201d Mr Bisat said. He added that both the strategy and the mechanism for spending were already in place, but \u201cthe money has to come from our friends\u201d for it to succeed.<\/p>\n He said Lebanon\u2019s priority was to secure reconstruction funding through grants rather than debt, though any borrowing would be at concessional, very low interest rates. “We need the money,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s ability to tap international capital markets on conventional terms remains severely constrained by its credit profile. Rating agencies such as Moody\u2019s continue to assign the country one of the lowest possible sovereign grades \u2013 a C rating \u2013 which reflects continuing defaults on foreign debt and deep financial distress.<\/p>\n Last month, UAE-based Al Habtoor Group<\/a> said it will halt all operations in Lebanon and terminate its employees in the country as it takes legal action<\/a> for its investment dispute. Legal proceedings are under way between the company and the Lebanese government.<\/p>\n Al Habtoor Group runs among other things a hotel in a Beirut suburb as well as Habtoor Land, a large theme park east of the Lebanese capital. The group\u2019s businesses in Lebanon were severely affected by the economic meltdown.<\/p>\n As part of Lebanon\u2019s efforts to attract investment, Mr Bisat pointed to a government-organised conference in November that drew 50 international companies, including Goldman Sachs, Accor and BlackRock. \u201cThey\u2019re interested in Lebanon,\u201d he said. \u201cLebanon has so much opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Cautious re-engagement <\/p>\n For decades, Gulf investment and financial inflows were a major source of foreign currency for Beirut. But following the financial collapse, some Gulf states scaled back investments and banned imports of Lebanese goods. While relations are slowly thawing, most remain hesitant to invest until Lebanon enacts reforms approved by the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n Qatar<\/a>, however, has taken a different approach, announcing last month more than $430 million in aid to help stabilise Lebanon\u2019s energy sector.<\/p>\n Mr Bisat said engagement with the Arab world had intensified since the current government took office in February last year. <\/p>\n President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam both made it a foreign policy priority to improve relations with Arab countries.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see it at many levels, in terms of the visits, more bilateral visits, the incredible interests that the [Gulf sovereign wealth] funds have in the Lebanese economy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He pointed to contacts with the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, saying diplomatic exchanges had resumed after years of silence.<\/p>\n \u201cEven the Saudis have broken the silence by sending a delegation,\u201d he added. \u201cThe engagement is there. And more important than the engagement is the attitude. The attitude is very positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Bisat said there are three key areas that Lebanon is focusing on when it comes to ties with Saudi Arabia: removing export restrictions, enabling the entry of Saudi tourists and businessmen to the country and advancing the many economic, cultural and environmental agreements that Beirut hopes to sign with the kingdom.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia was Lebanon\u2019s top destination for agricultural exports in 2019, accounting for 22.1 per cent of total shipments, according to a Lebanese government report published in 2020. However Riyadh suspended imports of Lebanese fruits and vegetables in April 2021, citing drug-smuggling concerns<\/a> and accusing Beirut of failing to take action. Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from travelling to Lebanon since 2021 because of security concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to assure them that we\u2019re not exporting drugs,\u201d he said, adding that Lebanon was advancing technical controls and scanning systems.<\/p>\n Mr Bisat said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states were proceeding carefully and gradually, linking deeper engagement to reforms and measurable progress. \u201cWe have to do our homework,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Southern Lebanon economic free zone <\/p>\n When asked about the southern Lebanon economic zone US officials first raised last year as part of wider discussions on stabilising the border area and supporting post-conflict reconstruction, Mr Bisat said there have been no advancements as it\u2019s still premature to discuss. <\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing [is that] the war has to finish,\u201d he said, adding that the next step would be making the area operable. <\/p>\n Israel still occupies five positions it considers strategically vital in the south, and continues to carry out daily strikes in Lebanon<\/a> on what it says are Hezbollah<\/a> targets despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between it and Hezbollah. The group is under heavy US pressure to disarm. <\/p>\n \u201cReconstructing, rebuilding the south is a huge priority, socially, morally, politically, we have to do it,\u201d Mr Bisat said.<\/p>\n He said the government was already advancing economic zone projects elsewhere in the country, including in Tripoli and at Beirut port. The strategy also includes a focus on high-end technology.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now have virtual free zones for tech,\u201d he said, adding that Lebanese companies are producing advanced technology, including \u201cchips for AI that Nvidia is buying\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lebanon\u2019s Economy Minister Amer Bisat has acknowledged his country\u2019s difficult relationship with Arab and Lebanese investors, saying that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,7889,113,61,60,14396,1284,329],"class_list":{"0":"post-282904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-business-team","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-lebanon","14":"tag-standard","15":"tag-story"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}