Lebanon
The public sector should provide the necessary infrastructure and ensure that there is a conducive business environment and a healthy investment climate for private enterprise to grow and prosper.
Since there is a huge gap between the private and the public sector in our country, we have decided, as a start, to focus on our companies’ internal functioning and then focus on the relationship between private entities aiming to apply corporate governance principles and practices.
Social institutions in Lebanon are complex and closely linked to religion. The country officially recognises a total of 18 religious groups. According to a report by Zaatari, family matters are governed by as many as 15 personal status codes.
The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 100 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing.
The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention.
The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. “Fishing expeditions” are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard.
All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework. Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
All review reports are published once approved by the Global Forum and they thus represent agreed Global Forum reports.
For more information on the work of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, and for copies of the published review reports, please visit www.oecd.org/tax/transparency and www.eoi-tax.org.
With a GDP per capita exceeding USD 10 000 in 2012, Lebanon is classified by the World Bank as an upper middle income economy. The country witnessed four years of strong economic growth at an average annual rate of 7.8% between 2008 and 2010, led by high investment rates and a strong service sector. Known as a hub for finance and commerce, the economy has witnessed growth in the tourism, real estate and banking sectors.
Avec un PIB par habitant supérieur à 10 000 USD en 2012, le Liban est classé par la Banque Mondiale comme une économie à revenu moyen supérieur. Le pays a connu quatre années de forte croissance économique à un taux annuel moyen de 7.8 % entre 2008 et 2010, conduit par des taux d’investissement élevés et un secteur des services fort. Réputée pour être un hub de la finance et du commerce, l’économie libanaise a connu une croissance dans les secteurs du tourisme, de l’immobilier et de la banque.
Ce chapitre présente le programme d'éducation des contribuables du Liban. Il décrit d'abord les objectifs généraux du programme, suivi d’un point sur un élément spécifique, le calendrier fiscal « Le temps des impôts ». Il examine par la suite l'impact et les leçons à tirer de l'initiative, suivie par un aperçu des prochaines étapes.
El presente capítulo trata sobre el Programa de Educación Cívico-Tributaria del Líbano. Comienza haciendo un recorrido por el programa al completo y sus objetivos, seguido del análisis de un elemento en concreto: el «Calendario del Contribuyente». Por último, realiza una reflexión sobre el impacto y las enseñanzas extraídas como fruto de la iniciativa.
Displacement is at a historic high, with over 65 million individuals currently displaced. The world is facing a refugee crisis that is unprecedented in scale. A large number of evaluations look at different aspects of programming in response to refugee crises in developing countries. This paper covers the key areas and priority topics related to forced displacement identified by the Development Assisstance Committee Temporary Working Group on Refugees and Migration. It draws from evaluation findings to highlight key lessons and recommendations for positive change going forward.
Key topics covered in the paper include: lessons on bridging the gap between humanitarian and development programming; efforts to strengthen international response to protracted crises; lessons on whole-of-government approaches in refugee contexts; learning from work in urban settings; improving access to employment and quality education; new financing mechanisms for refugee crises in middle income countries; and lessons on financing in response to the Syria crisis. The paper highlights the evaluation work of DAC members and aims to help strengthen the evidence base to improve response to situations of displacement in developing countries.
In May 2016, the World Humanitarian Summit represented a turning point for humanitarian policies. The Summit gave the impetus to seriously reflect on how to operate in environments where people’s needs don’t coincide anymore with existing mandates and sectors. The OECD believes that an effective humanitarian response is the one that addresses affected people’s needs in a timely and efficient manner. One way to measure effectiveness is to ask aid beneficiaries what they think about the aid they get. With this is mind, the OECD initiated a first round of surveys during the cycle 2016-2017 in six countries affected by different type of crisis : Lebanon, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia and Uganda. Two years after the World humanitarian Summit, the OECD and Ground Truth Solutions took another round of surveys in the same countries, plus Bangladesh. The purpose of this second round of surveys is to assess whether the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit, including the Grand Bargain, are having a tangible impact on people’s lives in the most difficult contexts in the world. This paper provides some answers to this question.
This report contains the 2019 Peer Review Report on the Exchange of Information on Request of Lebanon.
This study investigates transition finance in Lebanon, an upper middle-income country in the MENA region transitioning from a significant adverse shock. Lebanon’s development path has been historically non-linear and, most recently, the Syrian conflict adversely affected the country’s development path. The Syrian conflict compounded pre-existing deficits and challenges in Lebanon, calling for increased international assistance.
DAC donors increased official development assistance (ODA) to Lebanon to preserve stability and promote refugee protection. Donors also created special financing instruments such as the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) to foster the provision of multilateral concessional financing to Lebanon. Official development finance in Lebanon is high in comparison to its peers, particularly on a per capita basis and for humanitarian assistance. The country also attracts high amounts of FDI and remittances. Overall, domestic credit dominates the financing landscape and public debt is high.
DAC members and other donors can strengthen the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, address long-standing country needs to promote self-sufficiency, and re-design partnerships driven by mutual accountability and appropriate incentive structures.
More and more countries have begun to introduce open government reforms as a catalyst for attaining broader policy goals such as improving democracy, fostering inclusive growth, and increasing trust. Following this trend, successive Lebanese governments have taken various steps to implement reforms based on the open government principles and aligned with the OECD Recommendation on Open Government. This Scan aims to support the government’s efforts to build more transparent, participatory, and accountable institutions that can restore citizens’ trust and promote inclusive growth. It is based on a survey, a peer review mission and in depth interviews at both the central level and in the municipalities of Jbeil (Byblos) and Schweir. The Scan analyzes priority areas of reform and provides actionable recommendations to further embed the principles and practices of open government within policy-making cycles and to evaluate their impacts.