Weekly Insights: PMIs for Jun point to a V-shaped recovery, but is that the case? GDP data for Q1 were released in both Saudi Arabia and Dubai – affecting the latter... Read More
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The article titled “To halt Lebanon’s meltdown it is imperative to reform now” was published in The National on 4th... Read More
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Recent & Upcoming Events
Jun 17: “Stability Redefined- Who Authors the Future?”: e-Policy Circle 7 webinar (invite only)
Jun 15: Discussion on Lebanon with Carnegie Middle East Center (invite only)
Jun 4: Panelist at OMFIF webinar on Sovereign debt restructuring in emerging markets
May 22: Speaker at the YPO Lebanon webinar
May 17: Panelist at Sheikh Rashed Virtual Majlis on the “Effects of COVID19 on the UAE’s economy”
May 13: Panelist at NUS Middle East Institute webinar “The GCC’s Double Dilemma: Tackling COVID-19 and Falling Oil Prices”
May 6: Panelist at the CEBC webinar “A Pandemic, Oil Price Collapse, A Recession: Is the Future still Green?”
Publications / All
The MENA-OECD Working Group on Investment and Trade‘s 2018 meeting was... Read More
The commencement speechat the Universite St. Joseph was delivered by... Read MoreIn the Media
The article titled “To halt Lebanon’s meltdown it is imperative to reform now” was published in The National on 4th Jul 2020. The original article can be accessed here & is also posted below. To halt Lebanon’s meltdown it is imperative to reform now The country’s currency has lost about 80% of its value against the US dollar and poverty and unemployment are on the rise Lebanon is in the throes of an accelerating economic and financial meltdown. Unsustainable monetary and fiscal policies and an overvalued pegged exchange rate led to persistent fiscal and current account deficits. Public debt which reached more than 155 per cent of gross... Read More
Dr. Nasser Saidi’s comments on Lebanon’s IMF negotiations appeared in multiple articles, as posted below. In the New York Times article titled “Rescue Talks With the IMF ‘Hit the Rocks’ as Lebanese Suffer” which was published on Jul 1st Several current and former Lebanese officials, diplomats, international officials, economists and analysts agreed that talks with the IMF to rescue Lebanon from an economic crisis are going nowhere. Meanwhile, time is running out. “This (IMF talks) is hitting the rocks” says Nasser Saidi, a former economy minister and central banker. … “It is incredible that a bunch of parliamentarians in a failed state are trying to question the expertise of... Read More
The article titled “How public assets can help revive Lebanon” appeared in FT Alphaville on June 30th, 2020. How public assets can help revive Lebanon This is a guest post by Dag Detter, an investment adviser and former president of Stattum, the Swedish government holding company and Nasser Saidi an economist and former Minister and Central Bank Vice Governor in Lebanon, arguing that Lebanon should create a national wealth fund to help it maximise the value of public assets and thus better address its debt imbalances. Lebanon is in the throes of a fiscal, banking, currency and debt crisis. It is negotiating a rescue package with the IMF and a restructuring of its public debt... Read More
Dr. Nasser Saidi’s comments on the Caesar Act appeared in the article titled “Lebanon braces for ‘pain’ of Caesar Act amid financial meltdown” in The National’s 27th June 2020 edition. The comments are posted below. Because of the close historical ties between Lebanon and Syria, the law will make business between the two countries “more problematic and expensive” and “hurt Lebanon”, said Nasser Saidi, a former vice-governor of Lebanon’s central bank. The Caesar Act provides for secondary sanctions, which significantly widens its scope, he said. “In other words, they are imposing sanctions on Syrian entities and business people and also on the people who deal with them,” Mr Saidi... Read More
Dr. Nasser Saidi’s comments on Lebanon’s currency appeared in the article titled “Lebanon’s currency takes a new dive, and there is no end in sight” in Washington Post’s 26th June 2020 edition. The comments are posted below. In the absence of a clear policy path ahead, there is no bottom to the value of the Lebanese pound, said Nasser Saidi, a former Lebanese finance minister who is now a financial consultant based in Dubai. Citizens have lost trust in the banking system and the country is shifting to a cash-only economy. Some retail outlets have started accepting only dollars, which are hard to find. U.S. and European sanctions against... Read More
