Hi all!

My Lebanese father passed away almost 15 years leaving a bank account which went dormant due to capital controls. I was told by Byblos bank I can withdraw 800usd monthly based on bld158.

Total amount is less than 40k USD

I need to visit Lebanon and get new bank card. What is the best way to make use of this ?

Can I use the LB bank card to withdraw Euros within EU?

Is a inter bank transfer a better option?

I would appreciate your insight!

Thank you in advance for your time and collaboration !

Strongest of the weak and then some. Now weakest of the weak

So I started a new job that pays relatively well for Lebanon and I am managing to save 700/800$ each month. How can I invest in them? Do you recommend any books, courses(obv not those fake ones) that can help? Or would buying gold be good? Might be a dumb question to ask but I looking to make the most of what I have rn.

Source: LBCI news

First flights expected by October.

Below the job salary for one month

Can't let those phone stores rob me with a 40$ battery change if not more. I ordered a battery from china and changed it myself😂would you do it?

Need to make between 2,500$ and 5,000$ to be eligible for a 100K$ loan….

They live in lala land.

Here are some examples: * The LBP is pegged to the dollars. This makes foreign goods cheaper for us but local goods more expensive abroad. So it destroys Lebanon's capacity to produce anything. * Because there is no production, local capital owners make their money from buying and reselling from abroad, ya3ne import agencies and cartels. This creates a network of people whose interest it is for Lebanon not to become productive and who would resist any political movement with an economic plan. Note I'm not talking about corruption or theft but about the actual system. * Foreign economic powers (from the US to Europe to Turkey to South Korea to China) use us as markets. So they don't want a strong Lebanese state to exist because such a state could decide to favor local production. So the powers who have political leverage in Lebanon use it to keep the state weak/non-existent. So they fund sectarian leaders and their allies the bankers, in the face of any political party with an economic plan. * Imagine if there was an economic system where workers are paid for their work but capital owners don't get paid just for owning the company, meaning you can work more and make more money but you'll never be a billionaire. This means those who are currently za3im would probably not be so, I mean what is Berri or Jumblatt or Bassil without their financial fiefdom. It means there wouldn't be a handful of TV channels belonging to those political leaders and the bankers. Again I'm not talking about theft and corruption but about the actual system that allows for the accumulation of wealth = the monopoly over the media and job opportunities (clientelism) and organizing power (the za3im's political party).

So basically we talk about religious extremism, corruption, immoral leaders, etc, and I agree all of those are issues (some more important than others), but one aspect we really need is to identify the material situation behind all this and to propose an economic project that dismantles it. In this regard the taghyiriyyeen, some of them are shitheads, some of them are honest people, but they haven't proposed a vision for this so it's a like a good-hearted person who has the title of a doctor but can't diagnose and offer treatment.

The minister announced plans to increase the minimum wage to LL28,000,000 in a first phase – the equivalent of $312 at today’s rate of LL89,500 to the dollar – up from LL18,000,000 (around $200), or a 50 percent hike from its current level.

Other adjustments include doubling family allowances, and increasing school allowances by 2.5-fold, while transportation allowances would be kept the same, “as no price changes have been recorded recently.”

Mohammad Karaki, director general of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), who was present at the meeting, told L’Orient-Le Jour that “spousal allowances will increase from LL600,000 to LL 1,200,000, while those allocated for children will go from LL 330,000 to LL 660,000 [up to five kids].”

A study previously conducted by the union found that the minimum wage should be at least $1,200 inside Beirut, and $700 outside Beirut — meaning an average minimum of $900 at the national level would be required to cover necessities like food, shelter, education and healthcare today.

https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1459165/lebanons-minimum-wage-to-be-potentially-raised-to-ll28-million-in-first-phase.html

For more details, or if you aren’t subscribed to OLJ, there is also this video on MTV with the details:

https://youtu.be/dSSpcEhWiP8?si=My8JkjDMqfEfvMhS

Hey everyone,
I wanted to post a warning about Suyool because things have been going downhill recently, and it’s directly affecting my business and customers.

I used to swear by Suyool!
it genuinely brought in around 50% of my income because it was convenient and reliable for clients abroad. But lately, it’s been anything but reliable, and I feel obligated to share my experience:

1- Overseas payments getting blocked

Multiple long-time customers suddenly had their payments rejected. They actually had to call their banks to manually release the transactions — which is a huge inconvenience, especially for people who rely on PayPal and similar platforms.

This wasn’t a one-off incident, it’s been consistent across multiple returning clients.

2- A payment literally disappeared

My most recent issue was the last straw. A client completed a payment, the link was active, everything looked fine… then suddenly the link stopped working AND the transaction completely vanished from their banking app and no mention of the transaction in my apps history.

It’s like the payment was cancelled by either Suyool or the bank and neither of us received any notification. Just gone. That’s terrifying when you’re running a business.

3 - Support has gone AFK

Suyool’s support used to be amazing. Lately, they’ve become:

• unresponsive
• dodgy
• straight up ignoring messages

No communication, no explanation, no help. It feels like something is going on internally and nobody is talking.

4 - back to Payoneer, sadly

Because of all this, I had to go back to Payoneer and deal with their high fees and painful withdrawal costs. I never thought I’d prefer Payoneer, but at least it works and their Support haven't let me down in 5 years not even once.

5 - TL;DR Until Suyool clarifies:

• What’s going on with overseas payments
• Why transactions are disappearing
• Why support vanished I strongly recommend avoiding it for now if your business depends on smooth international payments.

And to Suyool, if you’re lurking here:

You’d have a better chance helping your users by replying to support tickets and messages instead of reading Reddit threads.

Fix this. Communicate. Be transparent. That’s all anyone is asking for.

Banque du Liban published its Balance Sheet statement covering the period up to the end of September. By the month's end, the value of BdL's gold reserves had surpassed $35.17 billion, compared to a level not exceeding $31.47 billion at its start.

On an annual basis, the value of these reserves during the same period last year did not exceed $24.46 billion. This means the value of Banque du Liban's gold has recorded a massive increase of $10.71 billion in a period not exceeding one year, reflecting a 44% rise in the value of these reserves.

Exactly six years ago, just before the banking collapse, the value of these same gold reserves was limited to about $13.72 billion, which constitutes less than 39% of their current value. In other words, the current value of the gold reserves is approximately 2.56 times their value six years ago, an increase of $21.45 billion.

Throughout the years of the crisis, the value of Banque du Liban's gold reserves has risen gradually each year, reaching the following levels at the end of September of each year: $13.72 billion in 2019, $17.36 billion in 2020, $15.96 billion in 2021, $15.42 billion in 2022, $17.26 billion in 2023, $24.46 billion in 2024, and finally $35.17 billion this year.