According to the Lebanese Press, a group of Lebanese expatriates has recently launched Cedar Oxygen Fund in cooperation with the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) and BDL. The Fund will mainly aim at helping Lebanese industrialists weather the prevalent USD liquidity crunch. In details, the Fund will offer Lebanese exporters the opportunity to deposit part of their exports’ proceeds in the fund in return for some interest income (somewhere between 4% and 5%), in lieu of placing said revenues at non-interest bearing accounts with foreign banks. Subsequently, the fund will channel said much needed foreign currencies to help Lebanese industrialists who produce for the local market import raw materials at the exchange rate set by the electronic trading platform that was launched by BDL. It is worth highlighting in this context that at the time being local producers are resorting to the black market to be able to import said raw materials, which in turn is having a detrimental effect on the price of the final product and the purchasing power of Lebanese citizens. In figures, the president of the ALI Mr. Fady Gemayel announced that the circa $3 billion in Lebanese industrial exports will translate into $13 billion in local Lebanese production, $10 billion of which will be for the local market and will constitute a substitute for imports, supporting as such the country’s balance of payments. It is worth highlighting that BDL will provide $100 million in funding for the Luxembourg-based Fund, with the founders aiming to raise up to $750 million and attract foreign investors in the process.