$83 million surplus in NSSF’s 2016 budget. Increase in subscribers, decrease in pharmaceutical prices

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) achieved a surplus of $83 million in 2016, up 85 percent compared to 2015.

Revenues from the family compensation fund reached $303 million last year, increasing 3.6 compared to 2015. Expenditures on this department reached $240 million registering four percent increase compared to 2015.

Surplus in this fund reached $60 million, increasing 6.5 percent compared to the year 2015.

Revenues from the sick and maternity fund were $760 mill...

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Health coverage law for retired NSSF subscribers. Retired employees to continue paying nine percent of the minimum wage

The Parliament has enacted the health coverage law for the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for retirees over the age of 64.

Walid Khoury, Member of the Parliamentary Committee for Health, said that the law will be referred to the Council of Ministers to issue the related executive decrees.

The law stipulates that NSSF retirees will continue to benefit from 20 years of health coverage after the age of 64. The family of those covered will also benefit even if the insured perso...

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Rental law modified by Parliament. Changes to fund’s legal structure, includes more beneficiaries

Parliament has ratified modifications to the rental law. The original rental law went into force in 2014.

The ratification has produced two main modifications: The fair lease value of apartments has been reduced from five to four percent of an apartment's value. The second one relates to the legal structure of the assistance fund that subsidizes old rent tenants by paying the difference between the old and new rental cost.

Adib Zakhour, Head of the Committee appealing the rent law...

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Beirut Port revenues drop six percent. Regional transshipment suffered from security issues

Port of Beirut (PoB) and Port of Tripoli (PoT), have made $254 million in revenues in 2016, constituting a six percent decrease from the previous year for POB.

According to the latest PoB statistics, transshipment has fallen 12 percent to 292,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent containers).

Elie Zakhour, Chairman of the International Chamber of Navigation, said: "The countries for which we are a transshipment hub, like Syria, Turkey, and Greece, continue to witness either economic o...

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