Our program proposes an economic policy built on a citizen-centered vision that takes into account both the present and the future.
This policy is based on a free, productive and innovative economy that focuses on the diversification of resources, the activation of the agricultural and industrial sectors, and the development of proper infrastructure, in order to develop the technological sector as well as a knowledge economy. Changing the structure of the economy to transform it from a rentier economy to a productive innovative economy requires the adoption of progressive economic, financial and tax policies.

Economic Plan

Approving an economic rescue plan, which includes the following:

• Conducting a comprehensive survey of the socio-economic situation (knowledge of actual unemployment rates, educational status, tax collection and evasion rates etc.) and contribute to the establishment of research units, study centers, scientific and academic laboratories in universities and other representative bodies that are in the service of the government to provide it with scientific studies and answers to problems facing Lebanon, with the aim of securing a suitable platform for economic and social decision-making
• Mitigating the effects of the economic crisis by activating a social safety net to protect the neediest groups
• Conducting a criminal financial audit that covers the Central Bank as well as all state finances from ministries and public administrations, to interests, independent funds and others; This is in order to uncover cases of corruption and squandering, the bypassing of laws, and to take appropriate measures regarding them, in addition to seeking to recover illegally acquired funds
• Assessing losses and unifying figures through an accurate inventory, in order to estimate the amount of funds that are still available to the state and the banking system
• Protecting small depositors from any haircut process
• Ensuring fair distribution of losses, with a focus on groups who have benefited from the high fraudulent financial engineering and outrageous interest rates, and assigning them the bulk of the losses in proportion to their illegitimate gains
• Restructuring the public debt within a plan aimed at reducing its size and tightening control over borrowing and spending
• Restructuring the banking sector as an entry point to restore the confidence of depositors, by issuing licenses for new banks according to high standards, and offering insolvent banks the choice between refinancing and merging; In addition, rendering banking licenses linked to specific conditions in terms of diversifying of banks' investments and conduct of business
• Restructuring the Central Bank to ensure the reactivation of its supervisory role over banks and financial institutions, to guarantee good management of financial and monetary policies, as well as establishing absolute transparency, especially regarding information, accounts, data and financial statements
• Completing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and other donors to secure the necessary liquidity needed to reactivate the economy
• Approving a properly crafted general budget that commits to severing accounts and honoring constitutional deadlines
• In view of the sharp price manipulation noted during the economic crisis, and until economic recovery is achieved, setting a fixed profit margin for basic commodities, as well as expanding the basket of basic commodities subject to those margins, and tightening penalties for crimes of manipulating the price of basic commodities
• Expanding the prerogatives of the Consumer Protection Department to secure broader protection from infractions

Reinventing The Economic Model

Changing the structure of the economy to transform it from a rentier economy to a productive and innovative economy, by adopting progressive economic, financial and tax policies and notably:

• Dismantling monopolies in various sectors to stimulate competitiveness in the market by adopting a law that regulates competition, notes the regulatory body concerned with organizing a competitive economy, and gives it administrative and procedural independence
• Working to develop the economic environment by securing job opportunities that meet the aspirations of the youth, especially in the fields of digital and knowledge economies
• Developing a plan for the advancement of the agricultural sector that takes into account the requirements of the sector and the needs of the local and external markets, in order to encourage import alternatives
• Adopting a new law to legalize the cultivation and use of cannabis, especially in the Bekaa, with the goal of exporting it for use in medical and non-medical fields to strengthen local economies
• Implementing public private partnership to launch investment programs in infrastructure, especially in the digital and technological fields
• Establishing an integrated plan with a set timetable for transferring ownership of the Middle East Airlines, the Casino du Liban, and the Regie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs (local cigarette importers) from the public sector to the private sector, due to conflicts of interest and to reduce the burdens of these institutions on the public treasury
• Adopting a plan to promote Lebanese products in regional and international markets
• Working on Lebanon joining to the World Trade Organization

Business Environment

• Launching a comprehensive legislative workshop with the aim to enhance competitiveness and facilitate business by passing new laws for trade, bankruptcy and companies
• Adoption of a modern Investment Law to be placed under the supervision of the Ombudsman to eliminate any obstacles to foreign investments
• Stimulating industries through a series of measures, especially the establishment of industrial free zones and the activation of tax exemptions in addition to opening new markets, especially in countries of expatriation, and increasing exports by adopting an incentivized industrial policy
• Granting financial and tax support that stimulates investment in promising and beneficial sectors, particularly through tax incentives for financiers (exemptions on placements and loans granted to promising sectors) and for investors (income tax on companies and NSSF contributions)
• Ensuring legislative stability, judicial security, and speedy issuance of impartial and fair judgments
• Activating constructive cooperation between the tax administration and investors, especially foreigners, as well as introducing into the Lebanese legislative system the principle of contractual taxation assignment that predetermines the origins of assignment for special cases that are presented prior to implementation
• Adopting the Facilitating Payment Mechanism to allow increasing the cost of administrative transactions in exchange for expediting the process while allocating the consideration in a fair, legal and transparent manner, which puts an end to bribes and gratuities payments
• Activating the role of women in the workplace by granting financial incentives to institutions and companies that adopt a female quota
• Creating an investment fund dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurship
• Establishing an independent economic body composed of specialists, whose mission is to support, guide and secure funding for youth’s entrepreneurship projects
• Facilitating the establishment of companies and eliminating obstacles to stimulating businesses
• Establishing technological and industrial free zones in the peripheries to support entrepreneurship
• Amending company laws to include social companies
• Criminalizing discrimination in employment and wages.
• Amending the law to allow state employees to form trade unions, and abolishing all legal obstacles facing the right of workers in the private sector to union work
• Applying the labor law in the agricultural sector
• Extending maternity leave and approving paternal leave

Fair Taxes

Developing the tax system to make it fairer and more effective through a series of procedures, including:

• Linking any measure, tax imposition and/or fee or credit monitoring to an economic impact study, an economic feasibility study, or recent documented statistics
• Amending and developing the current system of tax exemptions and incentives to be fairer and more effective by cancelling unfair exemptions and replacing them with incentives for promising and vibrant projects that favor growth, employment and/or innovation
• Adopting a tax policy that stimulates production and increases the tax burden on sectors that do not contribute to securing an added value to the economy or productivity, for example: real estate and financial speculations, disinvested lands, vacant real estate (to support a housing and rental policy), as well as those that invest in facilities, public properties, or natural wealth, or hold monopolies or preferential positions. This should be accompanied by a concomitant increase in the tax rate for activities harmful to the environment and health (crushers, tobacco, quarries, occupying seafronts, etc.)
• Transitioning from the scheduled tax system – that enables refraining from declaring hidden and unnoticed revenues in the system - to a unified income tax system based on tier and progressive rates; through a series of procedures that are proposed and approved according to special laws
• Imposing a tax on wealth calculated based on a progressive percentage of the total frozen or available assets, properties and funds of resident taxpayers located either in Lebanon and/or abroad
• Implementing e-government rules to speed up and simplify tax transactions, avoid bribery and corruption, and create a central public registry for all tangible and intangible property
• Amending the Building Property Tax Law and distinguishing between (1) the revenue derived from renting the property, which is annexed and subject to income tax, and (2) the current owed amount on the property, i.e. on the possession of the property (in which the owner resides) that is subject to the “taxe foncière” and/or habitation tax (taxe d'habitation), whose resources are subject to local authorities (municipalities, federations of municipalities, or district councils)
• Adopting, at the state level, a general record of assets and rights, both locally and abroad, for anyone benefiting from economic rights that can be reviewed by the public and includes interests and rights, in order for it to be analyzed and to ensure proper conditions and qualifications and avoid conflicts of interest
• Updating the inheritance transfer fee law, so that the ownership of part of the assets is allowed to be transferred gradually and without charge to the legal heirs and beneficiaries without burdening them with a fee, provided that those assets are invested in promising projects in Lebanon, which stimulates the creation of job opportunities for young people and allows them to stay in Lebanon and invest in it
• Approving the comprehensive declaration of assets, revenues and funds locally and abroad
• Approving the declaration of expenditures to track operations and analyze the situation of taxpayers, allowing the detection of fraudulent and/or concealed taxpayers
• Imposing a vacancy tax on real estate and non-inhabited built sections, to alleviate the burden of speculation in the real estate market

• Improving collection and combating tax and customs evasion through:

• Establishing an agency to combat tax evasion
• Circulating a unified tax number for all citizens and foreign residents on Lebanese soil, and documenting any relevant information with the central tax authority for analysis, as well as establishing an electronic link between the Ministry of Finance and other relevant administrations
• Adopting the blockchain system and technology so that IT systems are linked with each other with a concurrent statistical base
• Completing the procedures specified in the Budget Law No. 144 of 7/31/2019 regarding field surveys conducted by municipalities with licensed commercial and industrial establishments within their scope, as well as informing the Ministry of Finance of the names of those who are registered with the Ministry and those who are not, in order to adopt a practical mechanism and offer financial incentives for municipalities (so that a percentage of the amount collected from law violators and/or evaders will be allocated to it) in addition to measures and procedures for punishing those who violate or fail to act within the law

Oil and Gas

Enhancing transparency in the oil and gas sector by:

• Implementing the law to support transparency in the petroleum sector - No. 84/2018
• Ensuring the independence of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration by re-evaluating its work since its establishment in 2012, especially the work of its members and the extent of their independence from the Ministry of Energy. The evaluation process must be based on clear criteria (key performance indicators, annual work plan, achievements, results, etc.) provided that a detailed report containing the evaluation results is published and discussed and recommendations are adopted before appointing new members to the Lebanese Petroleum Administration
• Conducting a comprehensive financial audit of the account containing the revenues from the sale of seismic surveys, which is located in the Central Bank at the disposal of the Minister of Energy and the Director of Oil Facilities in Lebanon
• Securing Lebanon’s association with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
• Monitoring the sector's work in cooperation with civil society organizations
• Establishing a Lebanese sovereign fund that guarantees the re-investment of the oil and gas sector revenues into the development sectors, in a transparent and fair manner
• Encouraging the educational, vocational and technical sectors to adopt updated training curricula and courses that take into account the needs of the labor market in the sector