Samir El Daher

Economics & Public Policy

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

In a month exactly, on April 7th, 2023, Lebanon will be marking the first anniversary of signing the “Staff Level Agreement” with IMF. Let us hope it will be a day of celebration… not of commemoration!

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

President Reagan to Mother Theresa: But how would we be able to feed all the world's poor?
Mother Theresa: That's not the problem! The problem rather is how would we be able to feed the rich who are insatiable

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

At his 1933 Philadelphia trial, Willie Sutton, a bank robber when asked why he robbed banks replied “because that’s where the money is”. Today Sutton won’t rob a Lebanese bank, for he knows the money ain’t there. Depositors must be told this truth too. It might stop bank heists!

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

أولئك الذين يعتبرون الودائع المصرفية كملكية خاصة محمية بموجب الدستور، يهاجمون خطة التعافي الحكومية على أنها غير دستورية لضمانها الودائع إلى حدِّ  ١٠٠ ألف دولار فقط. فما قولهُم إذاً بدستورية قانون ضمان الودائع في لبنان الذي لا تتعدّى تغطيته ال ٧٥ مليون ليرة لبنانية أو ٣ آلاف دولار

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

الادعاء بأن خطة التعافي الحكومية تُمَيِّز بين فئة كبار المودعين والشرائح الأُخرى لا أساس له من الصحة ولا وجود في الخطة المصرفية لأيّ طرحٍ مُماثل. فتمشياً مع أنظمة ضمان الودائع المصرفية في العالم أجمع تَضمَن الخطة جميع الودائع إلى الحد نفسه (هدف ١٠٠ ألف دولار) آياً كان حجم الوديعة

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

The claim that the Gov recovery plan discriminates against large depositors is baseless. Nowhere the Plan pits large against other depositors. Like any deposit insurance scheme in the world, the Plan guarantees ALL deposits, small and large, up to the same limit (aiming at $100K)

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

Those who say deposits are private property protected by the constitution attack, as unconstitutional, the Gov plan guaranteeing deposits up to $100K. Then, appallingly unconstitutional would be Lebanon's Deposit Insurance Law that covers deposits up to LL75 million, or $3K only!

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

Many Lebanese haven’t got it yet: the age of subsidies is already over! Instead of showing up in steep price hikes, the phasing out of subsidy is translating in acute supply shortages (gas, medicine, soon bread)— classical tool of quantitative barriers rather than tariff increase

[American Task Force on Lebanon @ATFLebanon]

"It is not too early for those at the country’s helm to wake up to the stark situation that seems to elude them and shoulder their duties towards a people in need of salvation. But do they have the vision and willingness to do it?" https://t.co/3ZBR92w1I6

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

سمير الضاهر/لبنان بين حُكّام يراوغون للبقاء و”ثورة WhatsApp” مُتعثرة! https://t.co/9BHPECO6ZU

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

رمضان مبارك أعاده الله على اللبنانيين بالخير والأمان، بودائع مُحرّرة وليرة متعافية ومحال عامرة ووظائف وافرة وكورونا مقهورة وموانئ آمنة وجراح مُبلسمة ومنازل مُرمّمة وقوانين محترمة ومعابر موصودة وقيادات موثوقة، فيما الكيان محفوظ والرأس مرفوع والرأي مسموع والطاغية مخفور والشعب منصور

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

Pity a nation whose fate is sealed in faraway lands. To form an impotent government, Lebanon PM shuttles btw Paris, Cairo & the Tower of Babel.For voiceless,leaderless Lebanese, national elections seem inconsequential.They must be granted voting rights in France, Egypt & Eldorado

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

Fiers, combatifs et insoumis, l'action politique des Libanais est de danser au bord du précipice en attendant Godo: Initiative Macron, élection américaine, nième Congrès du Parti Communiste Chinois, mariage de l'Infante d'Espagne,...Vive la Révolution, Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

A century ago, France gave us a country. We failed to make a nation out of it, let alone a homeland. Today none but the Lebanese People and their faith in their own destiny can save the Lebanese People from their servitude, self-administered and dutifully renewed on election days

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

President Macron is in Lebanon 100 years to the day General Gouraud proclaimed l’Etat du Grand Liban. Gouraud was acclaimed as liberator who freed Lebanon from the Ottoman yoke. Today, the Lebanese welcome Macron with the hope he will deliver them from their indigenous oppressors

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

Beirut? Ground Zero?Tragedy? Fatality?No dearth of words to qualify Lebanon plight. For historian Maurice Druon there are Cursed Kings. Are there cursed peoples too including the Lebanese on whom a spell is cast making them unable to evade the ineptitude of their clan godfathers?

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

DGs responsibilities are nowhere specified in the law, but defined at the discretion of the governor who over 27 years has chosen to keep his acolytes mostly idle. If the central bank must be inclusive of all confessional sects, its governing board should have not 4, but 17 DGs!

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

A raging battle is fought on the appointment of Lebanon central bank deputy governors (DG),essentially about which crony is designated by which godfather. Fiscally responsible, efficiency-conscious countries have 1 DG. Defaulting on its debt, bankrupt Lebanon has 4 overpaid DGs

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

@RolaRizkAzour Rola, I recall you were involved in the refugees file, and you'd know better than me. In a flash, the situation can spiral out of control especially in a resource deprived state, a government oblivious of the dangers of this scourge and slow to respond

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

Lebanon official COVID19 statistics may be just the tip of the iceberg. How accurately do they cover the massive Syrian refugee population in informal camps with scarce access to medical services, no control on entry/exit, and in free contact with off-camp residents. A time bomb?

[Samir El Daher @SamirElDaher]

إلى أي حدّ يمكن اعتبار إحصائيات 19-COVIDالرسمية في لبنان موثوقة؟ فما دقّة تغطيتها للاجئين السوريين في المخيمات العشوائية مع ندرة الوصول للخدمات الطبية، دون قيد ورقابة على الدخول والخروج فيما هم على تواصل مع القاطنين خارج المخيمات، ورفض سوريا السماح لهم بالعودة. أهي قنبلة موقوتة؟