On January 5th 2012, USEK Faculty of Business and Commercial Sciences (FBCS) organized a conference on “The Lebanese Economy in 2012: New Challenges, New Perspectives”, given by H.E. Mr. Nicolas Nahas, Minister of Economy and Trade.

Following a welcome speech by Ms. Lea Yahchouchi, Prof. Nehme Azouri, Dean of the FBCS, emphasized that “the new perspectives looming on the horizon after reducing the internet fees, starting the quadrennial plan for electricity and the decreed delimitation of territorial waters in the context of gas and oil drilling, seem to contribute to the creation of a favorable climate to prepare a socio-economic plan for the coming years, which could promise an economic boost. However, instability and the relevant national and regional security challenges represent a non-negligible offset”.

H.E. Mr. Nicolas Nahas began the conference by defining economy as “our ability to create an added value, to create wealth, through work, performance, and macro-economic impacts… Economy cannot be simply an economy of consuming, it should rather be an economy of production, productivity and performance”. Nahas pointed out that industries are based on quality, compatibility and growth; and that “our exportations have increased from 4 million to 4 billion today”. He added “until 2010, and despite the accentuation of the pressure of regional and international crises, the economic activity in Lebanon has shown an outstanding constancy, since the rate of growth varied between 7.5 and 9% from 2007 to 2010. This growth has been achieved due to a sharp increase of investments in the sectors of construction and services, more particularly tourism and financial services. This tendency has changed in 2011 since the preliminary estimates indicate that the rate of growth does not exceed 1.5%. Year 2012 starts with the same perspectives [...] How can we avoid recession? Growth is the only basic element which will enable us to avoid the economic depression and to face many of our disorders”, Nahas continued, stressing that the government should commence a number of reforms, targeted in terms of reducing the rate of deficit, improving the productivity of economic activities, improving the efficiency of sovereign services such as justice, security and environment, in addition to creating a favorable climate for investments and supporting SMEs, etc.