Upsurging the Lebanese Economy through Access to Finance

RDCL organized a round table entitled: “Upsurging the Lebanese Economy through Access to Finance”, on Jan. 25, with the support of the Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Nicolas Boukather President of #RDCL made the opening remarks highlighting that access to finance for the legal private sector is an important pillar of the global ASPIRE plan launched by RDCL. However, providing the necessary legal tools to protect future financiers for any repayment mismatch, as well as finding innovative ways to approach financing – for a today deleveraged private sector – with local & international partners would be essential to keep “the legal private sector as the last standing bastion and the only remaining hope on which Lebanon can rebuild itself sustainably’’. He added that the size of the parallel economy is unfortunately growing by the day. He considered that providing the legal private sector, engaged in ESG compliance and in transforming the economy to become productive, with the necessary financial tools is part of protecting it against the parallel illegal economy. In concomitance, the private sector needs to urgently continue the pressure to reform state owned entreprises and push the agenda of reform forward, to reach a deal with the IMF and rebuild confidence in the Lebanese ecosystem.

Jean TAWILE economist & RDCL Board Member “compared economics to the infinite game”, explaining that “the economy needs resilient and strong institutions, that should be able to surpass all challenges and take them as an opportunity, in order to succeed and not collapse”. He added that “RDCL tries to allow all of the private sector’s institutions to continue and stay in the game. In order to do so, we need a will and a cause to fight for, but most importantly, we need resources”.

Sami Nader RDCL lead technical expert under the partnership with TIF, moderated the discussion that followed stating that “access to finance is the number one issue in Lebanon today”.

The round table was marked by the presence of key actors in the 🇱🇧 private sector, especially the finance sectors, in addition to lead representatives from USAID and TIF Project, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Investment bank (EIB), the European bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD), the International finance corporation (IFC) and many RDCL members.

Participants listed the major problems that the private sector are encountering nowadays, while suggesting innovative solutions to finance the private sector.