It was after 9pm when the three men, two carrying guns, arrived at Hussein’s door. He had lost his job two months earlier and owed $1,400 for two months’ rent on his home in south Beirut. The strangers had a message: Hussein’s landlord wanted him out. A former warehouse keeper, ... Read More »
In its daily report on the latest developments of the novel Coronavirus, the Rafic Hariri University Hospital announced on Saturday that out of 341 laboratory tests conducted today, one new Covid-19 case has been recorded, while the remaining tests came out negative. It added that the total number of laboratory-confirmed ... Read More »
Euro zone business activity hit another record low during April in another sign that the coronavirus pandemic is causing severe economic damage across the region. The IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures both the services industry and manufacturing, dropped to 13.5 in April, according to the preliminary data. In March, the ... Read More »
Oil jumped 40% at the high on Wednesday, reversing steep losses after a volatile overnight trading session which saw international benchmark Brent crude fall to its lowest level in more than 20 years. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose $2.95, or 25.5%, to trade at $14.52 per barrel. Earlier ... Read More »
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Tuesday issued a memo asking banks to allow depositors with foreign currency accounts exceeding $5,000 in value to withdraw their savings in Lebanese pounds at the “market rate,” likely to signify 2,600 pounds to the dollar. He had issued a similar memo in recent ... Read More »
Producers forced to pay buyers to take barrels off their hands due to oversupply of crude US oil markets have fallen back below zero as the coronavirus crisis continues to take a toll on oil demand. The US oil price – which turned negative for the first time in market ... Read More »
US oil prices plunged to their lowest level in more than two decades on Monday as the outlook for America’s shale industry worsened amid sharply lower demand during the coronavirus pandemic. With planes grounded, businesses closed and billions of people under lockdown conditions at home, demand for oil has dropped ... Read More »
The economy of Lebanon, which has defaulted on its mountain of debt, is expected to contract by a massive 12 percent this year, while Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, is headed for a fall of 4.7 percent, the IMF said Tuesday. The Middle East and North Africa economy will meanwhile contract ... Read More »
Latest World Economic Outlook describes shock of coronavirus pandemic as ‘like no other’ The International Monetary Fund has slashed its forecasts for global growth in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and warned of a slump in output this year unparalleled since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In its half-yearly ... Read More »
International trade body predicts commerce could shrink up to 32% and warns against 30s-style protectionism International trade has dried up as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and could be on course for a collapse as severe as that of the 1930s Great Depression, the World Trade Organization has said. ... Read More »
Lebanese Ministry of Information