Is foreign financing influencing Lebanese elections?

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by Bilal Maleb - trtworld.com --  International donors have pledged $11 billion in financing to Lebanon four weeks before the election. Considering the rampant corruption in the country, it's worth asking if this gives an edge to Lebanon's incumbents. While the international community is busy following the Russian interference in the US, elsewhere in the world ‘legitimised’ political interference is running rampant. In an unprecedented move, the international community met in Paris early April to provide finance for Lebanon in what is now known as CEDRE I conference – a rebranded version of previous Paris I, II, and III conferences. Around four weeks before the Lebanese elections, scheduled for May 6, some 50 countries participated in a conference that pledged more than $11 billion in support to the Lebanese government. The government had a perfect pitch: we have a refugee crisis; since you do not want our refugees; give us money now. The issue at hand is not whether Lebanon should be given yet another loan, but rather the timing of this conference. The term ‘refugee crisis’ has been used by many incumbents in recent months as electoral snot. At the heart of the matter, had the government been effective in designing policies and implementing them, these refugees could have become an asset rather than a burden.

So, what crisis is this?

Indeed, the crisis is for the refugees themselves who were forced out of their homes and into Lebanon - and the other is the governance crisis in the state of Lebanon. Lebanon is plagued with a corruption crisis, ranking 143 out of 175 in terms of corruption according to Transparency International. Until recently, Lebanon had not passed a budget bill for nearly a decade and enjoys a public debt among the highest in the world, reaching around 150 percent of GDP. Given the growth of the economy (or lack thereof), the crippled infrastructure, and poor service delivery, it is clear that some investment (whether sourced from international finance or domestic reform – preferably the latter) is certainly needed. The only real and sustainable solution is to plug the leakages in the corrupt system from tax collection to revenues from ports and airports, by reforming public procurement processes, and reducing waste in the energy sector as well as every other public entity. Resorting to international finance only contributes to increasing the public debt. Other countries have gone through this process of reform and are reaping the results. So why can’t Lebanon? Elections are seen by many as an exercise in democracy and sovereignty, so foreign interference and the misuse of international aid and credit can pose an austere threat to democracy.

So, why now?

The hypothesis here is ‘legitimised’ political interference. Indeed, some studies suggest that incumbents in governments of low and middle income countries often refuse channelling foreign aid through NGOs, as they perceive them to be political opponents. While civil society groups are named and shamed for allegedly receiving foreign financial support, the state actors are receiving said aid under the legal umbrella of international finance. Internationally, some foreign aid is channelled through NGOs. If donors are sincere about their claims of supporting the people of Lebanon and the Syrian refugees, why weren’t these gifts and loans channelled through non-state, non-partisan, and transparent (but national) actors? A recent study suggests that elections can create incentives for the misuse of foreign aid and “governments have consistently influenced the aid allocation process in favour of copartisan and coethnic voters”. In fact, allegations have already been made – less than a week after CEDRE I – that public funds are being spent in ways that can be construed as electoral spending and propaganda. Of course, the international community is already aware of this. The CEO of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva, suggested that the government has shown signs of remorse through passing a budget bill. A recording of an alleged IMF auditor was leaked earlier this month where he resembled Lebanon to an alcoholic who promises to get sober and a state that is plagued with the corruption cancer. Consequently, donors are faced with a predicament: either to monitor and directly allocate funds to projects, which undermines the role of the Lebanese state, or to face the very likelihood that these funds may lose their way within the corrupt vaults of the Lebanese government. Indeed, effective May 7 the current cabinet is considered dissolved, and a different – yet probably similar – government will decide how to spend this new line of credit. In light of this knowledge, why is the international community it enabling this corrupt regime and reinstating their power in Lebanon? This is not a conspiracy theory, it is merely a critical reading of the facts. These elections and the next four years are the country’s only remaining glimpse of hope. Whether new actors or the incumbents win the race, it doesn’t matter. What matters is to rejuvenate the institutions and allow a transparent accountability mechanism through the elections, enabling the country to stand on its own two feet. The timing of CEDRE I showed that this form of foreign aid departed from its historical purpose of focusing exclusively on socioeconomic challenges, to giving the incumbents an edge against potential entrants into the political scene. So, a simple question begs itself: could CEDRE I not have waited for a new government to form? Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, of khazen.org viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

Government measures needed to revive dropping Lebanese property sector

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by annahar - TK Maloy -- BEIRUT: The Byblos Bank Real Estate Index reported a sharp decline for the first quarter of 2018, according to a statement issued by the bank on Wednesday . The Index posted a monthly average of 33.2 points in the first quarter of 2018, constituting a decline of 26.1 percent from 44.9 points in the fourth quarter of 2017 and a decrease of 23.7 percent from 43.5 points in the first quarter of 2017. The first-quarter results constitute their lowest level since the second quarter of 2015 and their third lowest level in 43 quarterly readings. Further, the Index’s average monthly score in the first quarter of 2018 came 74.7 percent lower from the peak of 131 points registered in the second quarter of 2010 and remains 70 percent below the annual peak of 109.8 points posted in 2010. Also, it is 45 percent lower than the Index's monthly trend average score of 60.3 points since the Index’s inception in July 2007. Nassib Ghobril, Byblos Chief Economist, said: "Demand for housing in Lebanon declined sharply in the first quarter of 2018 due to the suspension of interest-rate subsidies on housing loans at the beginning of the year.” ''Banque du Liban, in cooperation commercial banks, has subsidized interest rates on housing loans since 2009 through various measures and mechanisms,” said Ghobril, adding, “The subsidies were supposed to be temporary in order to give the executive branch time to develop a housing policy. But the successive governments took these measures for granted, as they assumed that the subsidies would continue indefinitely.”

The economist noted that both citizens and the sector benefited for nearly nine years from these measures, but now the available funds to subsidize interest rates on mortgages have been exhausted. This, in turn, has reduced local demand and negatively affected people’s decision to buy a house in the first three months of the year. He added that the majority of Lebanese have found themselves priced out of the market without any subsidy support, which significantly impacted their decisions to buy or build a house. “The suspension of the subsidy program will weigh on the willingness of prospective buyers to acquire a residential unit, given that buying a house constitutes one of the most important investment decisions for the Lebanese, and the value of a house is usually the single most important non-financial asset for Lebanese residents,” he said. According to the Byblos statement, the answers of respondents to the Index's survey questions in the first quarter reflected this trend, as only 3.8 percent of Lebanese residents had plans to either buy or build a residential property in the coming six months compared to 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017. “The intentions of the Lebanese to buy or build a house need a conducive environment in order to translate into actual sales, which, in turn, requires immediate measures and incentives from the government.'' In this context, Ghobril reiterated the need for the government to revive demand through two immediate measures. First, the government should inject $500 million into the banking system in 2018 in order to revive the mortgage subsidies. Second, the government should reduce from six percent to three percent the registration fee on all purchased residential units, not just on apartments whose price is $250,000 or less as stipulated in the government’s budget for 2018. He noted that buyers of apartments that are priced at $250,000 or less were already exempt from registration fees if they qualified for loans through the Public Corporation for Housing, which was the case for the vast majority of mortgages that commercial banks approved in 2017.

Annahar asked a variety of young home shoppers about their plans given the current situation, with the common answer being that there was little question of trying to buy something in the near term, which meant waiting. For some residential shoppers – such as one engaged young executive Annahar spoke with – instead of the unavailable lower rates of the subsidy program, he is finding himself paying a call on the commercial banking sector, where interest rates range on average between 7 to 8 percent. “It remains the sole responsibility of the executive branch to develop a housing policy that would provide citizens access to affordable housing, with the banking sector standing ready to support a properly developed housing policy,” Ghobril said.

Saudi Arabia reaffirms offer to deploy troops in Syria

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by middleeasteye.net  - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir reaffirmed on Tuesday the kingdom's willingness to deploy troops to Syria as part of US-led efforts to stabilise the conflict-torn country. Speaking at a press conference alongside UN chief Antonio Guterres, Al-Jubeir said that Riyadh had held previous discussions with America to deploy troops in Syria after the civil war began. "We are in discussions with the US and have been since the beginning of the Syrian crisis (in 2011) about sending forces into Syria," Jubeir said at a press conference in Riyadh. The comments were in response to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday that US President Donald Trump's administration was seeking to assemble an Arab force, including troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to help stabilise Syria. The report follows weekend strikes by the United States, Britain and France against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's regime that hit targets they said were linked to its chemical weapons programme. Jubeir emphasised the proposal to send its troops was "not new". "We made a proposal to the (previous US) Obama administration that if the US were to send forces... then Saudi Arabia would consider along with other countries sending forces as part of this contingent," he said. Syria's war, the most tangled of the region's conflicts, is a crucial point of contention pitting Riyadh and its allies, who mainly back Sunni Muslim rebels, against forces loyal to Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. Riyadh and Shiite rival Tehran also back opposing sides in other hotspots across the mainly Sunni Middle East, including Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia's southern neighbour, Yemen.

The announcement by Saudi Arabia comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the west as the war of words continue to escalate on the diplomatic stage. Syrian state media said on Tuesday that inspectors had entered Douma to begin its investigation over the suspected chemical attack that took place in the area. "Experts from the chemical weapons committee enter the town of Douma," SANA wrote on its website. The OPCW told Middle East Eye that it could not confirm or deny that its inspectors had entered Douma. France said it is "highly likely" that evidence disappeared before weapons experts arrived in the area. On Monday, Syrian and Russian authorities had prevented inspectors from going to the scene in Douma. Damascus and Moscow had both denied using poison gas and issued statements from hospital workers in Douma, claiming that no chemical attack no place.

CNEWA trustees meet Lebanese, refugees who benefit from their projects

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by Kenneth R. Rosen, Catholic News Service -- BEIRUT — A North American delegation negotiated the steep incline to a clinic draped over the roadway, like an olive tree from a limestone bluff. "Yesterday we prayed," said New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who the day before attended a Mass with refugees. "Now we work." Dolan, chairman of the board of Catholic Near East Welfare Association, led a delegation from CNEWA, including Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver, British Columbia, and retired Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York. The group visited health care facilities across the Lebanese capital April 16. Arriving by bus and after a brief climb, the prelates reached St. Anthony Dispensary, north of Beirut. The clinic offers medical services to locals and refugees in the Lebanese capital.

Speaking with Lebanese Christians and displaced Syrian and Iraqi refugees at the dispensary, Dolan held several children aloft as the delegation traversed a tight corridor, lined with white plastic chairs in which sat dozens of patients. The clinic, which is open less than four hours each morning, treats 80 people each day. Sevan Aziz, originally from Baghdad, visits the clinic regularly for her 82-year-old mother, who has high blood pressure. "Here it's better (than other regional clinics) because I know everyone," Aziz said. "It's far from home, but my mother needs someone who understands our needs, and I get that here." The dispensary, now in Beirut's Roueisset neighborhood, was initially founded in 1987 in the Jdeideh el-Metn municipality to serve Lebanese Christians and Shiite Muslims who lived in the area but could not afford medical consultations or the cost of recurring prescriptions. In 2003, more than 400 Iraqi families settled in nearby Roueisset, overwhelming the dispensary with the community's growing needs. The dispensary received additional support from the Good Shepherd Sisters, who had been working with area children since 1998.

Today the 35 doctors employed by the dispensary work annually with more than 20,000 refugees, many of whom have fled the seven-year civil war in Syria and the recent occupation of the Islamic State in Iraq. "It's a very poor community," said Rita Bishara, program director. "It's their only hope for primary health support." CNEWA funds clinic projects, including the disbursement of chronic medications to more than 600 individuals who require prescriptions that treat Alzheimer's, asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, epilepsy, osteoporosis, cancer and heart disease. Clinic officials say without CNEWA support, many patients needing medical services could not otherwise afford the $12 co-pay set by the Ministry of Health. The dispensary and its tertiary programs take a holistic, human approach to health care, said Sr. Antoinette Assad, director of Good Shepherd Sisters. "Our motto is that religion is for God, the dispensary is for all," she said. Sarouat Mourtada of Baalbek, Lebanon, sat in a chair cradling her 15-month-old daughter, who was there for a routine medical exam. "I asked around and they told me it (the clinic) was good, and they offer pediatrics," Mourtada said. "This is the only clinic" nearby.

Her husband, who did not give his name, said he seeks pediatric care here for his two young children who live in Lebanon. "When I came from Syria, I came directly here." The clinic serves a diverse population from more than 10 countries. "We hear so much about animosity between different faiths, but at these centers, we've heard people come together," Miller said. "The aspect of generosity and ability to receive others maybe makes us ashamed of how little we do" in North America. A side street conceals the Karagheusian Center, off a main thoroughfare in one of the capital's most densely populated and industrial districts. A waiting room filled with patients momentarily paused as the delegation passed, before the room buzzed again with the action of care. The center in Bourj Hammoud, a predominantly Armenian neighborhood, is likewise supported by CNEWA and three Armenian churches. The center provides care for more than 3,500 patients each month. Serop Ohanian, the Lebanon field director of the Howard Karagheusian Commemorative Corp., said the government cannot provide many services, "so it has empowered organizations to do its job. "I'm grateful that we have the blessings of the church and the neighborhood churches," he added. Mouhammad Hamid, 33, lost his vaccination card when he and his family fled Aleppo, Syria. A nurse helped him fill out a new card, with the help of a picture he'd taken of his card and provided to the nurse through WhatsApp. A short distant from the center, an Armenian church hosted the CNEWA delegation and more than 50 residents from the community, many of them refugees from the ongoing civil war in Syria, less than a two-hour drive. "When we came to Lebanon we had so many fears ... our fears were associated with also how to educate our children and how they become appropriate citizens in a different country," said Zarmine Panoghlian. "Karagheusian offered lessons and teachings on how to get adapted to this new environment." She said she hoped the church leaders would visit more often and praised them for their continued support. "We didn't know when we came to Lebanon there would be people who welcomed us so openly," Panoghlian said.

Lebanese in Brazil will not vote come May

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by Peter Speetjens --executive-magazine.com The Lebanese parliamentary elections on May 6 are bound to make history, as, for the first time ever, Lebanese residing abroad have been granted the right to vote. Their appetite to do so, however, has so far appeared to be rather humble. In total, 82,900 Lebanese abroad have registered to vote, according to the official Lebanese government website. Numbers quoted in The Monthly, a publication by Information International, a Beirut-based research and consultancy firm, cite 45,827 Christians and 38,329 Muslims registered (the discrepancy in the overall total is likely caused by the difference in those who registered versus those registrations that were accepted). Some 60 percent of registered Lebanese voters abroad live in Australia, Canada, the US, France, and Germany—in that order. Only 2,106 Lebanese, or 2.5 percent, registered in Brazil, which may come as a surprise, given the country’s status as the world’s “second Lebanon.” “Estimates vary slightly, but we reckon there are some 8 million Brazilians of Lebanese descent, about half of whom live in and around São Paulo,” says Sabah Khoury, Lebanon’s consul in São Paulo. “They live in every corner of the country. [Other] major concentrations are in Rio de Janeiro and Foz de Iguaçu in the south, where we plan to open another consulate.” One need not travel far to spot Lebanese and Arab traces in São Paulo. Situated on Paulista Avenue, the city’s most prestigious thoroughfare, the Lebanese consulate sits right across from “Club Homs,” a restaurant and event venue established by Syrian immigrants in 1920. Several skyscrapers along the avenue boast Arabic family names, while eateries on every corner sell kibbeh and sfiha, which have become staple foods in Brazil. Two of the city’s mayors since 1990 were of Lebanese descent, while a third was Syrian, and Hospital Sírio-Libanês is widely regarded as the city’s, if not the nation’s, best.

Historic ties

According to Khoury, the low number of registered voters in Brazil is arguably due to the complex registration procedure. “People could register online or at the consulate,” she says. “However, the Ministry of Interior in Beirut had to approve the application, which could take a month or more, while the registration period closed in November. I think people may have underestimated that. “On the other hand, although 8 million is a fair estimate, we should put the figure in perspective,” she added. “The first Lebanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in the late 19th century following the visit of Brazilian Emperor Pedro II to Lebanon. Their descendants often are only partly Lebanese.” Pedro II had a keen interest in the Orient and visited the region twice in the 1870s. Legend has it that in 1871 he halted his convoy on the way to Baalbek to talk to a group of peasants and encourage them to emigrate to Brazil, where plenty of fertile land and opportunities would await them. True or not, the first Lebanese immigrants arrived in South America’s promised land in 1871. Driven by economic malaise, hunger, or conflict, many more would follow in this first wave of emigration from Lebanon that roughly lasted till the end of the Second World War. Naturally, many of the early pioneers married other immigrants. As a result, there are numerous Brazilians who have a claim to Lebanese roots, but their link to the country of their great-grandmother or great-grandfather is cultural or nostalgic at best. To count potential voters among Brazil’s considerable Lebanese contingent, the focus should be on more recent arrivals.

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Officials in Beirut Say US-Led Syria Strike Did Not Violate Lebanese Airspace

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“The army's radars and the radars at Beirut's airport did not detect any violation of the Lebanese airspace at dawn yesterday,” the sources told al-Hayat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. The narrowly targeted strike took aim at three alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria's Damascus and Homs provinces and the sounds of explosions were heard in Lebanese border regions. U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies ordered the mission in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack a week ago on the rebel-held town of Douma that left more than 40 people dead.