NuclearVision wrote@kareem, why do i keep hearing that there's no usd flow from abroad? why not? I mean what changed in one month? People abroad decided to stop supporting their families?
IMO, it's a game so that people panic and buy Usd with high prices, the same is(was) being done with fuel.
Who's making profits? You guessed it, the banks! Why? because they're supplying minutes amount of usd, and large amount when needed to feed their game.
This is just my theory, i could be wrong, but again, things such as this can't happen between day and night, like it has happened.
I have a coworker in Canada, he wants to send money to his family but he is worried that if he transfers usd from here they will collect it in LBP 3al se3er el rasmeh, and he does not want that, so he is hanging on to his money. Other people used to transfer money to their private accounts in Lebanon to collect interest, they won't do that anymore. Some non residents have millions in Lebanon and they used to transfer large sums to get interest...
Our taxes are broken, we don't have a proper tax for investment returns, el tax el tasa3odiyyeh in Lebanon only counts if you are an employee, bas if you are rich and receiving interest on your money in the bank, or you are a shareholder of a bank for example collecting dividends, you pay no income tax at all. In all the countries of the world interest and outside income count towards tax, and in most countries if you are a foreigner earning income from a local source, they tax you a withholding tax, if you buy a US government bond, the US government taxes you 25% before giving you the interest money for example. It is too late now but this is one of the major things that needed to exist in Lebanon, especially after the flood of money that came to us in 2009... And it was a tax that is super easy to collect, since banks keep accurate records and would be in charge of paying it...
More pain is coming.
I am coming to Lebanon in December 13, I am taking the opportunity to visit some sites and industries, I am interested in greenhouses and hydroponics in Lebanon, lots of realstate is idle, lots of demand for agriculture will come soon(if not already) Syria and Egypt will no longer flood our market with agricultural goods if there is no more USD to be extracted(heh, they don't want our lira, who can blame them?) There is a real risk of a food crisis to follow... But negativity aside, maybe since we are Lebgeeks someone can help me out with some math regarding having a tech oriented greenhouses with solar power and water that runs on timers...