Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, the Hezbollah party in Lebanon is trying to replace the state financial and banking system created by its shadow economy. The port of Beirut, where in August 2020 there was an explosion, became the main instrument for the growth of the Hezbollah economy. The party uses the port to import goods without paying customs duties. In addition, it imports the necessary goods through the Beirut airport.

Moreover, there is illegal import of prohibited goods, which also supports the shadow economy of the party. This deprives the state budget of customs duties and reduces the hard currency reserves of the Central Bank of Lebanon, because most of the smuggling of goods (fuel and wheat) is subsidized by the Central Bank at the official exchange rate of the lira to the dollar.

There are other sources of Hezbollah’s income. Among them is participation in organized crime. For example, many party members are involved in drug trafficking, and the police turn a blind eye to suspicious transactions.

According to experts, Hezbollah’s shadow economy has become part of the Lebanese economy, and there is no information on its scale. The figures for the size of Hezbollah’s budget are also inaccurate and defy logical explanation.

There are a number of reasons for Hezbollah’s creation of the shadow economy. First of all, for her, this opens the door to the world of crime, where you can launder the money received from the drug and arms trade. In this regard, the party rejects any IMF economic reform program in Lebanon, since they will interfere with its economic activities.

At the same time, Hezbollah has no economic vision, because it is a militarized organization, where ideology plays an important role. In other words, the party cannot build a parallel economy, but rather creates its own social institutions that are funded from abroad (Iran) and provide jobs for its supporters.