World Bank provides $100 million for education. Funding to also help Syrian children access schools

The World Bank (WB) has approved a $100 million soft loan to support the Government's plan to improve the quality of education. It also aims to enroll Lebanese and Syrian refugee children in schools by the end of next year, said the WB's President, Jim Yong Kim.

This was an exceptional arrangement, as the financing terms had been previously reserved only for low-income countries, the WB said in a statement. The move is part of the WB's efforts to increase its assistance to Lebanon and Jor...

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$370 million by Islamic Bank for infrastructure projects. To develop roads, water, and wastewater projects

The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) signed five agreements with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for a number of projects in the fields of transportation, water, and wastewater.

The funding agreements included one related to Bisri Dam valued at $128 million. The dam is part of a greater water augmentation project that consists of developing a 12-megawatt hour hydropower plant, a water treatment facility for 25,000 cubic meters of water a day, water, and wastewater netwo...

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Insurance premiums are still rising. Allianz SNA tops the list for the first time

The value of insurance premiums totaled around $1.6 billion in 2015, according to Al Bayan Magazine. Premiums are divided between $471 million in the life segment and $1.1 billion in the non-life lines of business. Premiums grew by 3.5 percent compared to 2014.

The top 20 performing companies in the insurance sector had consolidated revenues of $1.3 billion in 2015, representing more than 80 percent of the sector.

Allianz SNA, which was ranked third in 2014, moved up to first place...

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Fiscal deficit up by 30 percent. Decline in both revenues and expenditures

The public fiscal deficit widened by almost 30 percent to $3.95 billion in 2015, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The primary surplus fell by 45 percent to $724.6 million. The primary surplus is the deficit without factoring debt service.

Total revenues decreased by 7.5 percent to $9 billion, while total expenditure narrowed by 2.1 percent to $12 billion

Transfers to Electricité du Liban (EDL) plunged by $957 million or 46 percent, due to lower oil prices.<...

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Entertainment center in Baalbek. Part of a larger Lebanese-French cooperation agreement

The Union of Baalbek Municipalities has begun works on a 700,000 square meter entertainment center that will include sports fields, pools, conference halls, and a theater, at a cost of $2.4 million.

This project is part of a Lebanese French plan, within a cooperation protocol with Vallée de l'Hérault region in the South of France, signed in 2013. The 2015-2030 plan includes projects to activate tourism, improve agriculture, and integrate alternative energy.

Hussein A...

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Retail ends 2015 on a slump. Positive results in sports, F&B, and health

The Beirut Traders Association (BTA)-Fransabank Retail Index posted negative results for the fourth quarter of 2015, scoring 55.5 out of 100, falling by almost five percent, compared to the same period in 2014.

Nabil Hatem, General Director of the BTA, said: "The main reason behind the fall in retail activity is that the market is still in a deflationary mode, where prices have gone down." The decline in prices was not met by an increase in consumption.

The index, prepared and pub...

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Plan to triple funds to public hospitals. To develop services and increase beds

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched on Wednesday a new plan for developing and enhancing the performance of public hospitals.

The Ministry's plan suggests increasing the number of public hospital beds from 1,854 to 2,359. Around 280 beds were added last year towards a target of 2,700 in the next few years, according to Bahij Arbid, Advisor to the Minister.

The plan also proposed increasing the yearly funds provided to public hospitals from an average of $7 million for ea...

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