Head of the Justice Committee MP Georges Adwan said Tuesday that the government doesn't have an economic plan but is rather taking random and ill-considered steps.

"The customs dollar is part of a non-existent plan," Adwan said, asking how and why did the government choose the rate of LBP 20,000 to the U.S. dollar, while depositors can only withdraw from their dollar savings at a rate of LBP 8,000.

U.S. department of state spokesperson Ned Price has said that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is in touch with the parties in Lebanon and Israel and that a resolution to the maritime border conflict is possible.

Price did not announce when would Hochstein head to Lebanon. "I don’t have any travel for Amos Hochstein to announce at the time," he said in a press conference.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday dismissed Israel’s latest warnings over any escalation related to the dispute over offshore gas, as he said that like Lebanon, his party is also waiting for Israel’s response to the latest Lebanese proposal.

“I will not say anything new. We have said everything that we should say. Now we are all waiting. The Israelis are talking a lot these days -- positively and negatively -- but we should wait,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab held a lengthy phone call this afternoon with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, during which they demonstrated the course of the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel over the demarcation of their sea border, Bou Saab’s press office said.

“Hochstein briefed Bou Saab on the outcome of the latest contacts that he has held with Israeli officials, the last of which took place a few days ago, stressing to him that he will continue his communication with the Israeli officials in the coming days,” the press office said in a statement.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday accused rival political parties of subjecting the people to “intentional power cuts” with the aim of “spiting” the FPM.

“Intentional power cuts are a crime that is being committed by the state against its people,” Bassil said in a video posted on social media.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will meet with President Michel Aoun this week to continue discussions over the government formation issue, MP Ghassan Atallah of the Free Patriotic Movement said on Monday.

“Some parties and foreign interferences have convinced him to cooperate with President Michel Aoun for formation and there are positive indications,” Atallah said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV.

The Central Bank and the Ministry of Energy have informed oil importing companies that gasoline subsidization will be lowered by another 15% as of the beginning of this week, LBCI TV reported on Monday.

According to the new scheme, the importing companies will now get 45% of their dollars through the Sayrafa platform and 55% from the black market. Under the previous scheme, they used to get 70% of their dollars via Sayrafa and 30% from the black market.

The Entrepreneurship in the MENA survey, conducted recently by Bayt.com, a leading job site in the Gulf and Middle East, and market research agency YouGov, has found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of Lebanon respondents would like to be self-employed or have their own business if given the choice.

The survey found that even among those who are employed, 65% are currently thinking of starting their own business. 17% of respondents have tried to start their own business in the past, while 8% never thought of establishing a new company. Be my own boss (48%), freedom to choose work-life balance (42%), personal fulfilment (40%) and build a business my children can inherit (36%) emerge as the top reasons for preferring to be self-employed.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will not replace Energy Minister Walid Fayyad in a new cabinet line-up reshuffle, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said.

A political source told the daily, in remarks published Monday, that Mikati would only replace the economy minister and the minister of the displaced, and would study President Michel Aoun's suggestion to add six "acceptable" state ministers to the line-up.

In celebration of its fifth anniversary, the Global Health Institute (GHI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) has organized the Global Health Change Makers” pitch competition. The event brought together students from universities of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to present their project ideas related to Global Health and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a 5-minute pitch for a chance to win seed funding.

Seven competitors coming from different countries in MENA including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and others were shortlisted to the final stage and participated in the competition that was held at AUB, the university said in a statement.