$4.4 billion pledged in Brussels for Syria and its neighbors. Government committed to expanding the tracking system, monitoring, and evaluation

Participants in the second Brussels conference on 'Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region' pledged $4.4 billion for 2018 for Syria and its neighboring countries, as well as multi-year pledges of $3.4 billion for 2019-2020. The promised amounts are grants.

Several international financial institutions and donors also announced around $21.2 billion in concessional loans.

The Brussels II conference took place on 24-25 April 2018 and was hosted by the European Union and co-chair...

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Residency for foreign property buyers suspended. Constitutional Council to hear appeal by parliamentarians

The Constitutional Council suspended Article 49 of the State 2018 budget, pending a final ruling on an appeal submitted by ten members of Parliament.

Article 49 grants residency to foreigners who purchase apartments valued at $500,000 in Beirut, and $332,000 outside Beirut.

On Tuesday a group of ten members of the Parliament lodged an appeal before the Constitutional Council to challenge the article.

These lawmakers are Sami Gemayel, Nadim Gemayel, Samer Saadeh, Fadi El-H...

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Restaurant cluster opens in Hazmieh. First project by AHAS Group

AHAS Group, a real estate and contracting company, has inaugurated 'Citywalk', a restaurant cluster in Hazmieh.

The project is a partnership between AHAS Group, owned by Hussein Sbeity, Mohamad Kalakech, and Mohamad Taleb.

The land plot is 7,500 square meters (m2) in size, and the Gross Leasable Area (GLA) is 4,000 m2.

Investment in the project is $6 million, excluding the cost of the land, which is leased.

The cluster comprises restaurants, cafés, a kid's ...

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Customs charges and fees cut on hybrid and electrical cars. First electrical chargers at Medco stations

The 2018 budget, now approved by the Parliament, has amended customs charges and tariffs on eco-friendly cars.

Customs and excise fees on hybrid cars, which use both gasoline and electrical power, have been decreased to 20 percent. Public transportation vehicles will benefit from an additional decrease in customs and excise fees, falling to ten percent. The latter will also benefit from discounted registration and mechanique fees at their first registration.

Private vehicles that o...

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Roads in Mount Lebanon, Akkar to get uplifted. Part of a Ministry plan to rehabilitate and develop 150 roads

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport is executing 27 roads, mainly in Mount Lebanon and Akkar after it received a budget allocation of $50 million, according to Tanios Boulos, Director of the General Directorate of Buildings and Roads at the Ministry.

The roads span 151 kilometers in total.

The development is part of a decision that was issued by the Council of Ministers in 2012, which approved the Ministry's plan to rehabilitate and develop 150 roads. But the Ministry did n...

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Cabinet amends public sector working hours. Decree required to put the change into effect

The Cabinet recently approved an amendment to the working hours of public sector employees. The new working hours will be from 7:30 AM to 3:15 PM from Monday to Thursday, and from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM on Friday.

The decision has a limited effect on total working hours, which decreased by only one hour to 34, from the 35 hours previously approved in 2017.

The decision will be effective once released as a decree in the Official Gazette.

A source at the Ministry of Labor said t...

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Lebanese-Australian buys five pct of Bank of Beirut. Stake acquired for $57.3 million

Sarkis Nassif, CEO of Australia-based Holdmark Real Estate Property Group, will acquire five percent of Bank of Beirut for $57.3 million.

The bank will issue 3.05 million new common shares to Nassif at the current market price of $18.8 per share, a source said.

The conclusion of the deal requires the Central Bank's approval.

Salim Sfeir, the bank's Chairman, said the move is part of Bank of Beirut's expansion policy and that cooperation with Nassif "will allow us to foster f...

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Medical insurance now guaranteed for life. Ministry decision expected to boost demand

The Ministry of Economy and Trade has issued a decision to enforce the guaranteed renewability of all medical insurance contracts for the entire life of the insured and without any amendments.

The guiding principle behind the decision is that the medical insurance policy cannot be discretionarily amended following a deterioration in the health conditions of the insured, said Nadine El Habbal, Acting Head of the Insurance Control Commission (ICC).

Citizens can now be insured for th...

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Insurance premiums up four percent.

Gross written insurance premiums increased four percent to $1.63 billion in 2017 compared with the previous year, according to the Association of Insurance Companies (ACAL).

Non-life insurance premiums continue to account for around 69 percent of total premiums with the remaining 31 percent consisting of life insurance premiums.

The insurance companies realized a net investment income of $158.4 million, up 15 percent compared with 2016.

Indemnities paid by insurance companie...

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Tender for regasification.

The Ministry of Energy and Water is preparing to launch a Request For Proposals for the installment of Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) in Beddawi, Selaata, and Zahrani, according to Andre Graille, Senior Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Advisor at Poten and Partners, the Ministry's consultant on the matter.

The FSRUs will transform liquid natural gas into a gaseous state so it can be transferred to power plants for the generation of electricity.

The FSRU is part of a ...

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Restaurant cluster project planned in Ramlet el Bayda. Project is joint venture between Venture Group and Khalil family

Sunset, a restaurant cluster concept, has been launched in Ramlet el Bayda and will be completed in spring 2020. The project is a joint venture between Venture Group, a hospitality concept development company owned by Marwan Ayoub and Rabih Saba, and CTD Development, which is owned by the Khalil family and is represented by Karim Adel Khalil.

Venture Group is both the developer of the concept and the operator. CTD is the landowner and investor. The contractor for the project has not been ...

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15 more planes and HQ for MEA. Wi-Fi to become available in-flight

Middle East Airlines (MEA) plans to purchase 15 new airplanes between 2019 and 2021, 11 Airbus A321s and four other 'wide-body' variants. The new planes will be equipped with Wi-Fi.

MEA will expand its headquarters to include several new buildings and hangars, according to its Chairman Mohammad El Hout.

The expansion of the headquarters, located near MEA's recently inaugurated training center near the airport, will cost $150 million.

Works will start next year.

The ...

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Customs clearance reduced from 16 days to a few hours. Customs decision regarding import and export formalities

The Customs issued a decision requiring importers and exporters to get pre-clearance for their goods prior to arrival at the port.

The decision will be implemented on imported goods starting April 30. It will apply on exported goods in the coming months.

Importers will be required to submit a detailed statement once they produce a shipping manifest. All the data regarding the clearance of goods and the paperwork will be done electronically. Traders should provide all data about t...

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Pikasso adopts technologies for audience measurement.

Implementation agreements signed with two international companies
Pikasso, an Out-Of-Home (OOH) advertising company, has signed a partnership agreement with two international companies, CUENDE Infometrics and Quividi, for audience measurement and accountability services.

Antonio Venciti, Chairman of Pikasso, said: "Advertisers and clients don't want to be kept in the dark and need figures about their audience reach."

The partnership with Quividi will provide Pikasso with audien...

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$11.8 billion promised at the Paris CEDRE conference. $4 billion record single pledge from the World Bank

The CEDRE donor conference has resulted in $11.8 billion in pledges of financial assistance, out of which $11 billion are in soft loans. There were 51 countries represented at the conference in addition to international donor institutions.

The various loans are expected to carry a 1.5 percent interest rate over periods ranging from 20 to 30 years.

CEDRE is the acronym for 'Conférence économique pour le développement par les réformes et avec les entrepris...

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Viral IMF audio message discovered to be a hoax. Voice identified as former Assistant Dean of AUB

A message that went viral on social media, attributed to an official from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been discovered by Lebanon Opportunities' BusinessNews to be a hoax.

The voice message was recognized as that of Mohamad Zeidan, a former Assistant Dean at the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut (OSB-AUB). His comments were made during a conference organized in Beirut last month. Zeidan was intervening as a member of the audience.

The...

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