At the 2024 Freedom Dinner on November 21, Lebanese Institute for Market Studies was announced as the winner of Atlas Network's prestigious 2024 Templeton Freedom Award and its US$100,000 prize. The Templeton Freedom Award is generously sponsored by the Templeton Religion Trust.
Due to Lebanon’s escalating economic crisis in 2020, the Lebanese government expanded the Central Bank’s subsidy program to include essential commodities such as food, medicine, and fuel—leading to unsustainable fiscal deficits, market manipulations, and widespread shortages. In response, the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies (LIMS) successfully advocated for the termination of the harmful subsidy programs, removing price controls that were causing shortages in gas, electricity, and medicine. After five years of advocacy, major subsidy programs were lifted on more than 300 food items, wheat, fuel, infant formula, and medications, with products previously purchased on the black market returning to store shelves. Most notably, LIMS prevented another Central Bank bailout in 2023, helping reduce government spending by over $6 billion in bank subsidies, with Lebanon’s parliament even ratifying a zero-deficit budget for the first time in decades by January 2024.
About the Templeton Freedom Award:
Named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the Templeton Freedom Award has annually honored his legacy. Since 2004, the Award has identified and recognized the most exceptional and innovative contributions to the understanding of free enterprise, and the public policies that encourage prosperity, innovation, and human fulfillment via free competition. The Templeton Freedom Award is generously supported by the Templeton Religion Trust and was presented during Atlas Network's Freedom Dinner on November 21 in New York City. The winning organization will receive a US$100,000 prize, and all other finalists received US$20,000 prizes. Find out more about the award HERE.