Lebanon inaugurates new state-owned tobacco plant

Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil on Tuesday inaugurated a $17-million tobacco factory that could help increase Regie Company revenues by $40 million a year, according to a story in The Daily Star.

When the factory, which is located in Hadath, starts production in June, it will boost the state-owned company’s cigarette-production capacity from 12,000 boxes to 35,000 boxes a month.

According to the Regie’s director-general, Nassif Meskawi, the new factory has a license to manufacture leading international tobacco brands.

In inaugurating the new facility, Khalil was said to have heaped praise on the Regie. “Regrettably, there was a long-standing view in the state and the system that the Lebanese economy has no room for productive sectors such as industry and agriculture,” the minister said; before adding that his relatively short experience had confirmed that industry should play a prominent role in Lebanon.