Reading Time: 7 minutes For almost anyone residing in Lebanon, trips to the supermarket have become laced with a vague sense of apprehension. The more privileged may wonder how much the price of their favorite brand of imported cereal is now (as prices have been inflating since the last quarter of 2019), or if indeed it is still found…
Economic and coronavirus crises threaten Lebanon’s already fragile food security
How feasible is the recovery of stolen Lebanese assets?
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Lebanese uprising that burst into the streets across the country on October 17, 2019 was a focal point for long held frustrations over a poor governance system and widely perceived endemic corruption. The trigger for the protests was a series of proposed taxes that the previous Lebanese cabinet had agreed on, as part of…
The jobsforlebanon initiative envisions a new labor paradigm for Lebanon
Reading Time: 7 minutes For those who are addicted to adrenaline rushes from springtime thrill rides, March 2020 may very well be as good as it can ever get. But only as far as the thrills of being exposed to the mother-of-all economic shocks. For the large rest of us, it is a world-engulfing nightmare. For the Lebanese, it…
Q&A with the team behind jobsforlebanon
Reading Time: 11 minutes They want to bring jobs to jobs-starved Lebanon. They also want to do something that has been tried many times and rarely been crowned by success: mobilize direct investments into Lebanon from the country’s large global diaspora. Specifically, they want to seed job investments—work opportunities that can be located anywhere in the world, yet be…
Q&A with Nadine Khoury, COO of Robinson Agri, on how COVID-19 has impacted agriculture
Reading Time: 5 minutes Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis has highlighted the importance of well-functioning productive sectors—namely agriculture and industry—to a country’s GDP and economic well-being. This was further emphasized with the COVID-19 global pandemic significantly slowing down trade, disrupting food supply chains, and forcing each country to think of its own supply needs first. Executive spoke with Nadine Khoury,…
Watch: Coronavirus Facts vs Fiction — Interview with Infectious Diseases Specialist Ramzi Saliba (Part 1)
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ramzi Saliba, infectious disease expert and program manager in humanitarian and emergencies based in Canada, interviewed on what coronaviruses are and why we need to practice social distancing to help flatten the curve. Interviewed by producer and host of Y Chats, Youmna Naufal.
Lebanon’s economy and industry suffer under coronavirus impact
Reading Time: 9 minutes When seeking to fathom how Lebanon’s pre-existing economic woes correlate to the newly unfolding global coronavirus recession, a first obstacle is posed by the extreme speed with which this recession is unfolding. In February, and even earlier in March, international agencies, leading economic powers, financial institutions, and noted economists assumed that the virus’s impact might…
Q&A with Fady Gemayel on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on Lebanon’s industry
Reading Time: 5 minutes To gauge the extent to which Lebanese manufacturing industry, an often overlooked but crucial driver of the economy, is being impacted by the current global coronavirus pandemic in conjunction with the previous difficulties in Lebanon, Executive conducted a phone interview with Fady Gemayel, president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists. How is Lebanese industry coping…
LAU study on COVID-19 spread estimates extreme social distancing could save 150,000 lives
Reading Time: 5 minutes On March 19, the Office of Graduate Studies and Research at the Lebanese American University (LAU) released the results of a study (see below) on the effects of different levels of social distancing on the number of COVID-19 related deaths by June in Lebanon. One note of caution for these figures is that the lack…
WATCH: Coronavirus Facts vs Fiction — Interview with Dr Sharara on COVID-19 & children
Reading Time: < 1 minute Pediatrician at the AUB medical center, Dr. Rana Sharara, answers all your questions when it comes to #COVID-19 and children. Interviewed by producer and host of Y Chats, Youmna Naufal.
Lebanese turn to distance learning amid coronavirus disruptions
Reading Time: 6 minutes We are in the midst of a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus that has swept across the globe is having far reaching ramifications for our health systems and for the global economy. For Lebanese students, though among the demographic least likely to suffer severe health consequences from contracting COVID-19, the impact has been immediate and…
How corona could fulfill a long-held economic worry
Reading Time: 13 minutes At the time of writing (March 12) the number of known coronavirus infections had exceeded 126,000 and that the death toll was above 4,600 persons. Governments around the world have dedicated increasing medical, social, humanitarian, and financial resources toward bringing the threatening virus under control. At the same time, worries over the economic impact of…
Life for Lebanon’s migrant domestic workers worsens amid crisis
Reading Time: 3 minutes Hardly anyone in Lebanon has been left unscathed by the economic crisis, the worst since the end of the civil war in 1990. Its impact has been most devastating on communities already marginalized prior to the crisis. The situation for the estimated 250,000 migrant domestic workers, for instance, who are excluded from labor law protections,…
Long road ahead as Lebanon begins exploratory drilling for offshore oil and gas
Reading Time: 3 minutes Drilling of Lebanon’s first offshore well started on February 27. All eyes are pinned on Byblos 1, waiting to find out whether it is a dry or a commercial well. It will take at least three or four months before there will be a conclusive result, however. What is critical to understand is that this…
Crowdsourcing solutions to Lebanon’s crisis
Reading Time: 3 minutes To overcome the current crisis, the new Lebanese government will need to develop innovative policies—quickly. Currently, authorities are following a conventional model by seeking ideas from a bureaucracy of civil servants and consulting agencies. Perhaps a more effective way for the government to find solutions is to engage citizens directly via a digital crowdsourcing campaign.…