PDF

July 03, 2018 | English and Arabic | Bassam Fattouh
Lebanon Needs Clear Policy Prescriptions for Spending Petroleum Revenues

Lebanon’s waters are believed to hold large hydrocarbon reserves, making offshore Lebanon an attractive location for oil and gas companies. While developing and monetizing these reserves will entail many geological and technical challenges, a key policy challenge that Lebanese leaders will face is how to manage gas and oil revenues in order to maximize the economic benefits for citizens. This challenge is pronounced given the country’s weak institutional framework and poor governance structure, perceptions of widespread public sector corruption, political polarization, and rising sectarian tensions. There are, however, a range of decisions which can be made to maximize the benefits of spending from petroleum revenues such as paying off the public debt, increasing public spending, and allocating direct cash transfers to citizens.