A few days before the appointment of Hassan Diab as Prime minister, I made the following proposal which, I still believe, would help re-structure Lebanon’s finances by generating value. In other words, it would be one of the pieces of the solution, reducing the suffering of everyone concerned by the government's default, a shortage of US dollars, capital controls, inflation, and the de-facto devaluation of the Lebanese pound.

A law could be drafted to restructure Lebanon's debt. Part of the debt held by banks must be swapped with shares of a newly established sovereign wealth fund (SWF) – structured and managed like a private company in order to generate value that couldn’t be created till now – that comprises:

- Middle East Airlines (MEA) valued by Central bank Governor Riad Salameh at $1 billion;

- Ogero (telecom landlines) and Touch and Alfa (the two mobile operators) valued by consultancy group McKinsey between $4 billion and $10 billion;

- Lebanon’s stake in the future oil and gas revenues of the two blocs awarded for exploration to Total, ENI, and Novatek;

- Electricity (Électricité du Liban, EDL) and Water management, as well as the future revenues from cannabis for medical use (including the development of the processing industry and a commercial framework);

- The potential funds awarded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others;

- Stakes of the State or Central Bank (Banque du Liban, BdL) in Casino du Liban; Régie des Tabacs et Tombacs; the Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, and Tyre ports; the Rashid Karami International Fair; the Sport City Center; the real estate development institution Elyssar; in the airports of Koleiat (tourism); INSERT INTO articles (articleId, timestamp, date, title, teaser, slug, status, primaryCategory, description, authorId, sourceId, url, lastUpdate, hasImage, contents, summary) VALUES Hamate (Private and luxurious planes) and Rayak (fret); and in Intra Investment Company and its banking arm Finance Bank.