Now that Lebanon is enjoying a degree of self-governance, its cabinet and administrative bodies are working on strategic plans for reform. Among the ministries expected to contribute the most to the country’s overall development is the Ministry of Finance. Its major concerns center on how to decrease Lebanon’s national debt, lower unemployment, create job opportunities for the youth, and reduce government corruption. On November 8, new Minister of Finance Jihad Azour was invited by AUB’s Institute of Financial Economics and the Department of Economics to speak about the government’s current drive to improve the economic and financial situation in Lebanon and turn it into an economically self-sufficient country ten years from now. In introducing the new minister, Professor Samir Makdisi, chairman of the Department of Economics, informed the audience: “Dr. Azour has a PhD in economics from Paris and completed his first postdoctoral studies at Harvard University. He has worked as a consultant to many international organizations, among them the United Nations Development Programme from 1999 to 2004, and taught at AUB’s Institute of Money and Banking from 1998 to 2000.” Professor Makdisi then made some remarks of his own, in which he linked Lebanon’s economic reform to numerous targets, such as “restoring the banking economy, creating employment opportunities, coping with the socio-economic situation, improving public economic policy and economic governance…we also should not neglect the social dimension of economic reform.” Saying he was in full agreement with Professor Makdisi, the minister proceeded to tell the audience where he would like to see Lebanon ten years from now: “I would like to see Lebanon as a country with a growth rate of higher than 5 to 6 percent, a country with plenty of jobs, a country of high income rather than a middle one, a country whose level of debt is reduced and whose economy is job-creating, with a greater level of investment in various sectors.” Azour thinks this is achievable: “Singapore did it; Ireland did it; why can’t Lebanon do it?” Lebanon, according to the minister, is at a crossroads of the opportunities that lie ahead. “In the near future, for example five years from now, economic management reform stands as our target,” he said. He grouped the reforms that needed to be achieved into five interdependent pillars: the fiscal, the economic, debt management, governance, and social reform. If all those pillars are managed effectively, Lebanon’s economic enhancement and reform is inevitable, he said. The privatization of some public sectors and increasing the rate of people participation in the economic decision-making process are two of the strategies that will be followed. Azour ended his talk by voicing the government’s main concern at present–the youth. “We want to create opportunities for the youth. We would like to see them able to utilize their education in creating their own businesses,” he said.
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