As Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to announce his new cabinet, head of the Beirut Traders Association Nicolas Chammas warned Thursday about the country’s dire economic situation, and foresaw the closure of around 25 percent of legal business activities in the coming two years.
Chammas raised the alarm during an urgent meeting held Thursday with merchants and different commercial and economic syndicates at the headquarters of the association in Beirut.
A salary scale law signed last year by President Michel Aoun in addition to the absence of tourists decreased the trade activities in the country, according to the meeting.
"The law resulted in an increase in taxes to finance the salary scale which, in turn, caused a drop in people's purchasing power," Chammas said.
He added that trade activities decreased differently from one area to another.
“Those activities had touched a drop of 50 percent during the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year,” head of the Beirut Traders said.
He explained that if this situation continues, the country would witness the closure of around 25 percent of legal business activities in the coming two years.
Chammas said that the government should quickly interfere to ratify a strategy that would save the commercial sector from further deterioration, the same way it is supporting the industrial sector.
Merchants and different commercial and economic syndicates attending Thursday’s meeting voiced their demand for the quick formation of the new government and said the new ministers need to be selected based on their competences, especially in the economic sector, with the need to draft strategies capable to save the sector.
A statement released following the meeting said participants stressed the important of “limiting the monetary disorder and to reduce financial waste in the country.”
It also called for a decrease of taxes enforced on legal businesses and families.
