00:00 "Of course, there is no doubt that today Lebanon is suffering from very difficult conditions
00:07 as a result of the war on Palestine and the events that are taking place in Gaza.
00:12 Of course, we cannot deny that there is a war on Lebanon today.
00:17 There is a real war affecting the Lebanese economy, affecting imports and exports, affecting the prices.
00:27 There is an economic problem that has worsened after the war on Gaza in Lebanon.
00:32 Today, Lebanon is also facing a danger in terms of the arrival of goods.
00:38 We have been told or it has been shown to us that there are about 30 or 40% of Lebanon's exports
00:45 that pass through the Mandab Gate.
00:47 This has also been affected because it has created a shortage in the market for basic materials
00:53 that are imported from the Asian countries that pass through the Mandab Gate.
00:59 The prices of sea transport have also increased, which is creating a lot of social pressure in Lebanon
01:06 because the prices are increasing weekly.
01:11 We started with 5% and now we are at 10%.
01:14 The Lebanese situation today with the currency deterioration is affecting the Lebanese citizens' lives by 1%.
01:20 Of course, we are facing a problem that the president is not present.
01:25 There is a lack of compliance with constitutional institutions.
01:28 So, additional pressure has been placed on the economy and Lebanon is in a difficult situation.
01:34 Let us first ask you about the conditions that affect exports, between 30% and 40%.
01:39 Most Lebanese exports are known to be agricultural imports.
01:43 Therefore, taking alternative routes is a waste of time.
01:48 To what extent do you estimate the damage to the Lebanese agricultural exports in the current period?
01:53 It is what has been greatly affected, other than the importation of exports.
01:59 Lebanon is a country that, unfortunately, still imports more than exports.
02:05 But, of course, our exports are affected because we know that there is a problem with land transport through Syria
02:13 because the channels are not safe at the moment.
02:16 So, sea transport was the last or the only option in the current period.
02:21 As you mentioned, most Lebanese products are related to vegetables, fruits and agricultural products
02:31 that have a certain shelf life.
02:34 You cannot send them for longer distances or longer periods.
02:38 This has greatly affected the ability to export products from the Lebanese market to the outside world.
02:47 You mentioned that the current circular conflict in Gaza is reflected in the Lebanese economy.
02:54 To what extent does it affect the time of the loan, especially in the tourism sector and the economy as a whole?
03:00 There were expectations that the Lebanese economy would start to leave the recession and enter a kind of growth, even mild, according to the IMF.
03:10 Will the current year continue to be a recession?
03:14 Before the war in Gaza, there was a major economic movement in Lebanon,
03:22 although we are still in a state of decline in the banking sector and other things.
03:27 But the tourism sector, both summer and winter, and Lebanon is a tourist country by nature,
03:34 has created a great movement in the country and a lot of money has been invested.
03:41 We are talking about the summer season, which cost between 5 and 7 billion dollars.
03:47 We also expected that the winter season would be more or less divided.
03:54 The Gaza war was a warning to this issue, because there was a fear of the consequences of the war and the deterioration of the situation.
04:02 Large-scale activities were canceled, bookings were canceled, and many activities were canceled.
04:07 It was possible that after the summer movement, the growth of the IMF would happen,
04:13 even in low percentages, 2% or 2.5%.
04:18 This was expected.
04:21 The Gaza war brought us back to zero, because it affected tourism,
04:27 and it also affected security in Lebanon, because even the Lebanese immigrant,
04:31 who is the security chief, and the first to return to Lebanon,
04:36 changed his projects and postponed even the small investments he was going to make.
04:41 Of course, agricultural production in southern Lebanon and Beqaa has been damaged.
04:47 We have already wiped out more than 2.5 billion dollars in losses,
04:54 burning of land, trees, and agricultural projects throughout southern Lebanon and Beqaa.
05:00 This also has great implications, because to revive it, it needs decades, not just a year, two or three.
05:08 How much is the income of the people who are currently working?
05:12 We were talking about a 2% or 3% growth.
05:19 I am saying that the situation will end in Lebanon in the situation that it was in before the Gaza war.
05:26 This 2% or 3% that we will get, we will not get.
05:30 So, it is a big problem for the country.
05:33 The zero balance that was recently adopted and some described it as a delusion, how do you evaluate it?
05:41 We were a political team that did not agree with the mechanism of this balance.
05:49 I said it frankly as the Minister of Economy, I cannot support a balance that does not have a 360-degree economic vision,
05:59 does not have a perspective of growth, and the most unprecedented is the reforms that are required today for the situation in Lebanon.
06:09 This was a balance to make things happen, and it was necessary.
06:14 But this balance, even the issue that you mentioned, the removal of the balance, is not realistic.
06:21 All of them were built on numbers and expectations as a result of raising taxes and fees.
06:26 But what is more important is that today, when you want to raise taxes or fees,
06:31 you do not want to have a healthy, realistic, real economic system to know what is entering this country,
06:36 what is leaving this country, the protection of the Republic and the strictness of the Republic's regulation,
06:42 the supply of electricity, the supply of basic services.
06:45 All of these things are not yet present.
06:48 Before we put all of these things on the right track, there will not be a precise balance,
06:54 and one can say with confidence that these are the numbers of the balance, this is the weakness in it, and this is the loss in it.
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