0:00 Intro

2:22 Paralysis

11:01 Utter Incompetence

14:24 Waiting Game

17:13 Balance of Payments

22:35 Public & Private Debt

26:52 Banking Sector

34:18 Public Sector

42:11 Assistance without Reform

45:54 Threat of Violence

We're with Amer Bisat for Episode 227 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/tiMYIRS_BbM

We discuss his recent Carnegie / Dispatch piece 'The Tragedy of Doing Nothing' and the ongoing political and economic paralysis eroding Lebanese society.

Our conversation includes political class incompetence, nonchalance and a mismanaged hard landing collapsing the economy by stealth.

We also look at fears of political and economic breakdown resulting in inter-communal violence, and compare the current situation to previous factors that led to civil strife.

Amer is a senior fund manager at a global asset management company and a former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The article referred to in this episode is linked below:

https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/83012

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Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.