5 percent, 20 percent, nothing at all ... What tips do people give in Lebanon?
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L'Orient-Le Jour
10 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Jaber announces $335 million for war-damaged infrastructure
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber announced Tuesday that the government will allocate $335 million to rehabilitate infrastructure damaged in areas affected by the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel. The minister said that "a loan was signed with the World Bank and adopted by the Cabinet, under which about $335 million will be devoted to rehabilitating infrastructure damaged" by the fighting. In an interview with al-Jadeed, Jaber stated that "around 500 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs were cracked due to Israeli bombardments, and that the cost of their repair amounts to about $60 million." According to him, "the rehabilitation of these buildings has begun, and an Iraqi donation of $20 million has been allocated to them." He added that it was possible that "funds from the public treasury will be released in order to continue the reconstruction." Several Lebanese regions, including southern Lebanon, Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, were subjected to intense Israeli bombardments during the two months of full-scale war, between September and November 2024. Reconstruction efforts are slow, due in part to the lack of foreign funding, as well as ongoing Israeli attacks on the south and the occupation of several points in that region.
L'Orient-Le Jour
10 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
5 percent, 20 percent, nothing at all ... What tips do people give in Lebanon?
"The tip in Lebanon should be between 12 and 15 percent of the bill." This statement, attributed by LBCI to Tony Rami, president of the Lebanese syndicate of restaurants, cafés, nightclubs, and pastry shops, in early August, provoked an uproar on social media. Non-mandatory, the "bakshish" (Persian for 'to give') is an "option," he clarified to L'Orient-Le Jour. "I did not say it was imposed or a moral obligation. Generally, Lebanese leave between 12 and 15 percent." After six years of economic crisis during which the Lebanese pound lost about 98 percent of its value against the dollar, what is the real situation on the ground?'We can't even reach 10 percent this summer'For Abdelkarim Makki, manager at the upscale restaurant Assaha in Bourj al-Barajneh, in the southern...
L'Orient-Le Jour
a day ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Fuel tax: Finance Ministry defends its position before State Council
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber did send a statement to the State Council to explain why he believed the government's May 19, 2025, decision to tax certain fuels and use the proceeds from these taxes to fund aid for the Lebanese Army should be reinstated, according to a well-informed source at the Finance Ministry. According to this source, the minister said he took what he considers a "normal" step to defend the point of view of the executive branch and the Ministry before the highest administrative jurisdiction. The latter had suspended this decision last July following an appeal filed by the Lebanese Forces, while it considers the merits of the case — something that could take some time. Partly confirming information reported Monday by the MTV channel regarding this statement, the source added that the minister notably argued that the government could act in customs matters under law No. 93 of Oct. 10, 2018, whose effects were extended by another text suspending this period for a year and a half. According to the channel, the finance minister and his colleague at defense, Michel Menassa, agree to maintain army aid funded by the tax's proceeds. Lebanese soldiers have been mobilized to bolster border security with Syria, which underwent a regime change last December, and to disarm armed militias in the country, including Hezbollah and those in Palestinian camps. By contrast, military salaries have melted away since the crisis triggered by the depreciation of the Lebanese pound and have yet to be fully adjusted to offset these losses. The constitution reserves to Parliament the authority to intervene in fiscal matters. But in 2018, it allowed the government to do so for five years, notably in customs matters (law No. 93 of Oct. 10, 2018) — a power the cabinet later delegated to the Higher Customs Council. However, while the duration of this exemption was supposed to expire at the end of October 2023, a law passed in 2024 suspended legal and contractual deadlines for the period from Oct. 8, 2023 — that is, the first day of the war between Hezbollah and Israel — until March 31, 2025, citing the grave instability of the security situation. After being approached by 10 MPs from the Free Patriotic Movement, the Constitutional Council initially suspended the effects of the law before reinstating almost all its provisions on Jan. 16. The law granting the government a customs-related exemption has not, for its part, been challenged before the Constitutional Council, though the legitimacy of the exceptional measure it establishes remains hotly debated. The Cabinet's adoption of the fuel tax caused an outcry at the time. It was enforced for a month and a half before the State Council suspended it.
