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Lebanon's Economy Minister Expects Cabinet to Sign Fiscal Gap Law Soon

Cars pass in front of a billboard that reads, in Arabic, "A new era for Lebanon," in Beirut, Lebanon, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Cars pass in front of a billboard that reads, in Arabic, "A new era for Lebanon," in Beirut, Lebanon, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Lebanon's Economy Minister Expects Cabinet to Sign Fiscal Gap Law Soon

Cars pass in front of a billboard that reads, in Arabic, "A new era for Lebanon," in Beirut, Lebanon, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Cars pass in front of a billboard that reads, in Arabic, "A new era for Lebanon," in Beirut, Lebanon, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanon's cabinet is soon expected to approve and send to parliament a long-awaited law needed to restructure its debt burden, the country's economy minister said, adding that policymakers are in touch daily with the International Monetary Fund.

Lebanon is struggling to emerge from a severe economic crisis following decades of profligate spending by ruling elites that sent the economy into a tailspin in late 2019, with depositors locked out of accounts as debt-laden banks shut down.

Key to the fiscal and economic overhaul is a law on the distribution of financial losses between the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors - dubbed the "fiscal gap" law.

Asked about progress on the law, Amer Bisat said the government's emphasis was on good legislation rather than speedy progress.

"The idea is to present it, discuss in the cabinet, approve in the cabinet, and then send it over to the parliament," Bisat told Reuters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank. He added that he expected these things to happen "soon."

"It's more important that we get something right than we get something fast," he said.

RELATIONS WITH BONDHOLDERS POSITIVE, MINISTER SAYS

Declining to give details on the numbers being discussed, Bisat said the draft would follow three principles - depositors would get back their money over time with no haircut and that any solution would ensure the banking sector back to health. Furthermore, smaller deposits would get their money back faster than larger depositors, he added.

Bisat also said he was meeting with the IMF every day. Asked whether he would also meet bondholders on the sidelines of the meetings in Washington, Bisat declined to comment but said relations between authorities and those investors were "good, cordial and positive."

Recent events in the region could bring big positive change for Lebanon, said Bisat, who previously was BlackRock's global head of emerging markets.

"That change could potentially be very good, very positive for Lebanon," he said. "Let's not forget, we're in the middle of a war still ... but there's a possibility that the kind of changes that are happening, if stability, if security, comes back to the region, Lebanon could benefit enormously."

The government is also expecting hundreds of investors to head to Beirut in November for a conference dubbed Beirut One, that Bisat hopes would help rekindle private investor engagement in the country.

"There is a strong interest in imagining the day after," he said. "We know people are very realistic ... everybody knows that challenges are enormous, and the journey is still very, very long, but I really think people are saying it's okay to start imagining how things will be after."

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Iraq Reopens Rabia Border Crossing to Boost Fuel Oil Exports via Syria

This aerial picture shows cars and trucks loaded with goods waiting to cross over into Syria at the al-Rabia border crossing on April 20, 2026. (AFP)
This aerial picture shows cars and trucks loaded with goods waiting to cross over into Syria at the al-Rabia border crossing on April 20, 2026. (AFP)
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Iraq Reopens Rabia Border Crossing to Boost Fuel Oil Exports via Syria

This aerial picture shows cars and trucks loaded with goods waiting to cross over into Syria at the al-Rabia border crossing on April 20, 2026. (AFP)
This aerial picture shows cars and trucks loaded with goods waiting to cross over into Syria at the al-Rabia border crossing on April 20, 2026. (AFP)

Iraq has reopened the Rabia border crossing with Syria after more than a decade to accelerate overland fuel oil exports and revive cross-border trade amid disruption to Gulf shipping following the Iran war, Iraqi border officials said on Monday.

The crossing, located in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, will allow fuel oil shipments to be trucked through Syria while also reopening the route to ‌commercial trade ‌traffic that has been halted since ‌the ⁠conflict that followed ⁠Syria’s civil war, officials said.

The head of Iraq’s Border Ports Commission, Omar al-Waeli, said reopening Rabia would ease pressure on fuel shipments to Syria by allowing more fuel oil trucks to cross, with most convoys currently backed up at ⁠the al-Waleed crossing in western Iraq, ‌the only operating ‌border point.

Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO has recently turned to overland routes through Syria, despite higher ‌costs, as one of the few viable alternatives to keep exports flowing. SOMO ⁠awarded ⁠contracts to supply about 650,000 metric tons of fuel oil per month from April to June to be trucked overland via Syria.

Convoys of tanker trucks loaded with Iraqi fuel oil are expected to begin crossing in the coming days, adding capacity to an operation that energy officials say has already stretched Iraq’s trucking and border infrastructure.

Iraq had previously exported the bulk of its fuel oil through the Khor al-Zubair terminal on the Gulf.

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IFAD to Asharq Al-Awsat: Repercussions of Hormuz Closure Trigger Global Food Security Shock

A container ship is seen in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati)
A container ship is seen in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati)
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IFAD to Asharq Al-Awsat: Repercussions of Hormuz Closure Trigger Global Food Security Shock

A container ship is seen in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati)
A container ship is seen in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati)

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said the repercussions of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have triggered a global food security shock, warning that disruptions to fertilizer and fuel supplies, rising input costs, and declining purchasing power are threatening production at a critical point in the agricultural season. This is driving food prices higher and will severely affect the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Gerardine Mukeshimana, Vice President of IFAD, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the repercussions of the US-Israeli-Iranian conflict have led to a global food security shock that has already begun to manifest in local food crises, particularly for small-scale producers and rural populations.

On this Mukeshimana said “The ripple effects of the conflict have triggered a global food security shock that is already translating into local food crises, particularly for small-scale producers and rural populations. While it is too early to quantify a precise global ‘food gap,’ nor foresee all possible consequences, we do know that many of the women and men who produce our food are already under pressure.”

Critical timing and heightened risks

Mukeshimana stressed the seriousness of the timing, as farmers across nearly half the world are entering critical agricultural seasons between March and June. Any shortage of inputs at this stage will inevitably lead to lower yields and reduced food availability in the coming months.

“Between March and June, farmers across nearly half the world enter critical planting seasons, meaning that input shortfalls and price spikes today risk lower harvests and tighter food availability in the months ahead. As past crises have shown, these shocks do not originate at the farm level, but they ultimately land there, among those with the least capacity to absorb them.”

Impact of shipping disruptions on agricultural production

On the repercussions of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on the passage of ships carrying agricultural inputs and fertilizers, and estimates of losses over the past 40 days, Mukeshimana said: “The abrupt halt and severe disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb has had immediate repercussions for fertilizers, fuel and other agricultural inputs. While exact volume losses over the past 40 days vary by commodity and route, evidence from IFAD investments points to significant shipment delays, curtailed exports and cascading market effects, from reduced planting to distorted farm-gate prices and declining rural incomes, as gathered in detail by the position paper, ‘Global shock, local crisis,’ published by Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD this week.”

She noted that these impacts are clearly reflected in shrinking cultivated areas, distortions in agricultural price structures, and a deterioration in farmers’ net incomes, as documented in the position paper issued this week by IFAD President Alvaro Lario titled “Global shock, local crisis,” which warned that international logistical disruptions are translating into severe local livelihood crises.

Vice-President of IFAD Gerardine Mukeshimana (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Import-dependent countries in a double bind

“The supply chain disruptions are cutting off farmers’ access to markets to both purchase inputs – such as seeds, veterinary medicines, and equipment – and sell their products both domestically and as exports. The result: farmers’ expenses rise as their income drops.”

Mukeshimana said this represents a global risk, as small-scale farmers produce about one-third of the world’s food, and up to 70 percent in Africa. When their production declines due to input shortages, it leads to reduced output, higher prices, deeper vulnerability, and rising hunger.

She warned that these repercussions directly translate into lower production levels, rising prices, and worsening economic vulnerability, ultimately expanding the scope of hunger.

Mukeshimana added that countries that rely on imports face a double bind, as fertilizer shortages and rising costs compound existing pressures from climate shocks, armed conflict, and accumulated debt, making it extremely difficult for these countries to withstand the current crisis.

“In import-dependent countries, fertilizer shortages and price spikes amplify existing pressures from climate shocks, conflict, and debt. Left unaddressed, these shocks can drive wider development setbacks, hunger, increasing humanitarian needs, forced migration, conflict and political instability.”

Business

Inflation Woes and Firmer Dollar Drag Gold Lower as US-Iran Tensions Revive

A display of gold bars, each weighing 1000 grams, at a gold and silver refinery in Vienna (AFP)
A display of gold bars, each weighing 1000 grams, at a gold and silver refinery in Vienna (AFP)
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Inflation Woes and Firmer Dollar Drag Gold Lower as US-Iran Tensions Revive

A display of gold bars, each weighing 1000 grams, at a gold and silver refinery in Vienna (AFP)
A display of gold bars, each weighing 1000 grams, at a gold and silver refinery in Vienna (AFP)

Gold prices fell on Monday owing to a stronger US dollar and renewed inflation fears after another closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices higher.

Spot gold was down 0.8% at $4,790.59 per ounce, as of 1103 GMT, after hitting its lowest since April 13 earlier in the session.

US gold futures for June delivery fell 1.4% to $4,811.

"Oil's surge after the weekend's chaotic events surrounding the Strait of Hormuz ensure that inflation risks remain palpable, offsetting gold's allure as a safe-haven asset. The precious metal has taken a backseat to the dollar's role as the preferred safe haven throughout the conflict so far," said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Bybit, Reuters reported.

"Barring meaningful and sustained de-escalations in the ongoing conflict, spot gold is expected to keep treading water in these sub-$5,000 levels."

The US said on Sunday that it had took over an Iranian cargo ship that tried to break through its blockade while Iran said it would retaliate, heightening fears of a resumption of hostilities.

Oil prices jumped around 5% on fears that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran could collapse and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained largely halted.

The dollar index strengthened, making greenback-priced bullion more expensive for holders of other currencies. Benchmark 10-year US Treasury yields gained, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Although gold is considered an inflation hedge and a safe haven during geopolitical and economic uncertainty, rising energy costs stemming from the war in Iran have stoked inflation concerns and pushed the yellow metal lower on expectations of monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve.

"Nonetheless, gold retains the ability to extend its recent rebound as structural demand drivers persist. Central bank buying, de-dollarization and currency debasement trends may have faded but remain alive and can support bullion," said Nikos Tzabouras, senior market analyst at Jefferies-owned Tradu.com.

Among other metals, spot silver lost 2.1% to $79.07 per ounce, platinum fell 1.7% to $2,066.90, and palladium was down 1.6% at $1,533.64.