The Faculty of Business Administration at Beirut Arab University hosted a seminar in economics under the title “Economic Recovery: Strategies for Overcoming the Current Crisis”, in which Dr. Alain Hakim, the Former Minister of Economy and Trade in Lebanon, and Dr. Nassib Ghobril, Head of the Economic Research Analysis Department at Byblos Bank participated in it.
The seminar aimed to explain Lebanon's economic potentials, discuss them and develop solutions for them, in the presence of the Faculty Dean, Professor Mohamed Abo El Naga, faculty members, and interested students.
At the beginning, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Business, Dr. Hanadi Taher, noted that “Beirut Arab University, as an educational institution, will take the initiative of developing scientific proposals and plans to overcome the economic crisis in Lebanon, through a series of periodic seminars with the help of economic experts, academic professors and students to raise recommendations and solutions to relevant authorities to end the crisis.
Dr. Alain, the Former Minister of Economy and Trade, explained several reasons that led to the financial and economic collapse, including the implementation of the salary scale law, the lack of legislation in the Parliament which prevents the enactment of necessary financial and economic reforms, the failure to enact capital control, the default on Eurobonds, the stalling of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, and the chaos in the exchange rate.
Hakim also pointed out that Lebanon has enormous economic potential through attracting investments in several facilities, including the port, airport, and electricity. He added that "as Lebanese, we can overcome the crisis through the election of a president, the law on restructuring banks, the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, and the approval of the budget."
From his side the financial and economic expert Dr. Nassib Ghobril presented a series of remarks on the 2024 budget project. He identified the most important of them as follows: “The aim of the budget is clear that is to increase treasury revenues by increasing taxes and fees and imposing new fees without any serious study on their impacts on the economy. He pointed out that 61% of public expenditures will go to cover salaries, wages, allowances and social assistance for public sector employees and workers”.
Ghobril continued that it was possible to avoid most of the new fees and taxes in the 2024 budget project and resort to other sources to secure revenues for the public treasury. There are solutions that exist but are neglected by successive governments, such as combating tax evasion, activating collection, fighting customs evasion, combating smuggling across borders in both directions, and applying existing laws.
Ghobril concluded his speech by calling for the approval of several projects that are currently in the Parliament, such as the law of restructuring the financial sector and the law to restructure the banking sector, in order to overcome the economic and financial crisis that Lebanon is suffering from.
This event is one of Faculty of Business Administration events to find practical solutions for serving the community and stressing the university's strategy.
iConnect
