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Amer Bisat, PhD, is the Global Head of Emerging Markets at BlackRock and a member of the firm’s Global Fixed Income Executive Committee. In this capacity, he leads a team managing approximately $40 billion in government and corporate bonds. Dr. Bisat’s service with BlackRock dates back to 2013. Prior to that, he was a partner in two macro hedge funds, and held portfolio management responsibilities at UBS and Morgan Stanley. Between 1991 and 1998 he was a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) where he helped negotiate high profile programs with Russia, Ukraine, and Egypt. Dr. Bisat taught graduate level economics courses at Columbia University, co-authored a book on globalization and academic and policy papers on growth and financial sector development. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the Advisory Council of the Carnegie Middle East Center. He is a trustee of a number of Middle Eastern cultural and art institutions. Dr. Bisat earned a bachelor’s in economics from the American University of Beirut and a PhD in economics from Columbia University.
For the past 18 months, Lebanon has been reeling from a wrenching economic crisis. This essay deciphers the crisis’s origin, describes the current juncture, and reflects on the likely outcomes in the proximate future.
