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Lebanon to Construct New Terminal at Beirut Airport

Planes are grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19, 2020. (AP)
Planes are grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19, 2020. (AP)
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Lebanon to Construct New Terminal at Beirut Airport

Planes are grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19, 2020. (AP)
Planes are grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19, 2020. (AP)

Lebanon will construct a $122 million terminal at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport to be operated by a leading Irish airport company when it's completed in four years, officials said Monday.

Lebanon’s only international airport had a major facelift after the country’s 1975-90 civil war and has been working at full capacity for years. The airport has not undergone an expansion since 1998.

Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie said Terminal 2 will bring in private sector investments worth $122 million and will handle 3.5 million passengers annually when operations begin in 2027. It will add six docking stands as well as remote ones, he said in a ceremony at government headquarters to announce the launch of the new terminal.

Terminal 2 will be built where the airport's old cargo building used to stand, according to Hamie.

The project comes as Lebanon is in the throes of its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s political class.

“The project opens more horizons for air aviation between Lebanon and the world,” caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said. He added that it will help in solving several problems, including crowding at the current terminal.

The project will create 500 direct jobs and 2,000 related jobs, Hamie said, adding that Terminal 2 will be for chartered and low-cost flights.

Hamie said once Terminal 2 is ready it will be operated by leading European company daa International, an airport company in Ireland.

Ireland’s Minister of State James Browne attended Monday’s ceremony in Beirut and was quoted in a statement released by the Lebanese prime minister’s office as saying that the contract signed will deepen business relations between the two countries.

The airport currently handles 8 million passengers a year, and the plans are to reach 20 million in 2030, according to the website of national carrier Middle East Airlines.

Lebanon’s economic crisis that began in October 2019 has left three quarters of the country’s 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, in poverty. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value.

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Political Turmoil Shakes South Korea’s Economy

Protesters take part in a rally calling for the ouster of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul on December 28, 2024. (Yonhap/AFP)
Protesters take part in a rally calling for the ouster of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul on December 28, 2024. (Yonhap/AFP)
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Political Turmoil Shakes South Korea’s Economy

Protesters take part in a rally calling for the ouster of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul on December 28, 2024. (Yonhap/AFP)
Protesters take part in a rally calling for the ouster of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul on December 28, 2024. (Yonhap/AFP)

After South Korea's president and his replacement were both deposed over a failed bid to impose martial law, deepening political turmoil is threatening the country's currency and shaking confidence in its economy.

The won, which plunged Friday to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009, has been in near-constant decline since President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to scrap civilian rule in early December.

Business and consumer confidence in Asia's fourth-largest economy have also taken their biggest hit since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures released by the Bank of Korea.

Lawmakers impeached Yoon in mid-December on charges of insurrection, and on Friday they impeached his successor, acting president and prime minister Han Duck-soo, arguing that he refused demands to complete Yoon's removal from office and bring him to justice.

That thrust Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok into the additional roles of acting president and prime minister.

Choi has pledged to do all he can to end "this period of turmoil" and resolve the political crisis gripping the country.

- Constitutional question -

At the heart of the stalemate is the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to uphold parliament's decision to impeach Yoon.

It must do so by a two-thirds majority, however. And because three of the court's nine seats are currently vacant, a unanimous vote is required to confirm the suspended president's removal.

Otherwise, Yoon will be automatically returned to office.

Lawmakers on Thursday nominated three judges to fill the vacant seats, but acting president Han refused to approve them, precipitating his own impeachment.

After an acrimonious day in which lawmakers from Yoon's party erupted in protest, the country's newest acting president sought to project calm.

"Although we are facing unexpected challenges once again, we are confident that our robust and resilient economic system will ensure rapid stabilization," Choi said Friday.

The 61-year-old career civil servant has inherited a 2025 budget -- adopted by the opposition alone -- which is 4.1 trillion won ($2.8 billion) less than the government had hoped for.

"There are already signs the crisis is having an impact on the economy," Gareth Leather of Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients, citing the dip in consumer and business confidence.

"The crisis is unfolding against a backdrop of a struggling economy," he added, with GDP growth expected to be just two percent this year, weighed down by a global slowdown in demand for semiconductors.

"Longer term, political polarization and resulting uncertainty could hold back investment in Korea," Leather wrote, citing the example of Thailand, another ultra-polarized country whose economy has stagnated since a coup in 2014.

- Democratic resilience? -

But other economists noted that the South Korean economy has so far weathered the chaos well.

As early as December 4, the day after Yoon declared martial law following a budget tussle with the opposition, the central bank promised to inject sufficient liquidity to stabilize the markets, and the Kospi Index has lost less than four percent since the start of the crisis.

"Like everyone, I was surprised when Yoon took those crazy measures," Park Sang-in, a professor of economics at Seoul National University, told AFP. "But there was a resilience of democracy."

"We come from being an underdeveloped country to one of the world's most dynamic economies in very few years, and Yoon Suk Yeol is a side effect of the growth," he added.

"Korean society was mature enough to counter his crazy actions."