Karam also served as the Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs of the Arab Republic of Syria, Mr. Abdullah Dardari, entrusted with driving the Public Private Partnership initiative in the country.
Dardari served thereafter as the Senior Advisor on Reconstruction for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank and is now a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Representative.
The level of accumulated net losses was historic plus... there were dramatic structural problems.” In late 2005, after successfully implementing a plan developed by Karam and approved by Salameh, the BDL decided to sell BLC.
Although he was the subject of defamation campaigns, lawsuits and personal threats, he was able to avoid the pressure traditionally placed on business leaders in the country by politicians because he imposed on the Central Bank head Salameh to allow him complete autonomy in restructuring the troubled company.
“[Since] the success of this initiative depends on providing cheap financing to the micro-enterprises, it is imperative for the lending institution (BLC) to source out funds at low rates.
More important than security considerations, it is susceptible, if mismanaged, to cause damage to the country's basic foundations far more lasting than burnt buildings and regrettable life loss.
Such steps, he argued, "are cosmetic and their purpose is to avoid an immediate crisis and buy time for true reform and fundamental structural fiscal measures to be conceived and implemented.
[19] He also criticized his own industry, Lebanese banks, for being slow to reform themselves and to implement new Basel II regulations, a rare move by an insider for an insular sector.
[20] In several op-eds later in the year, he called for a series of controversial structural reforms, saying that as a first matter, Lebanon "needs to address the Treasury's financial priorities by starting to implement existing solutions to the problem of Electricite du Liban, thus tackling one of the main chunks of the budget deficit.
Showing determination in this area will encourage the implementation of Paris III and maybe convince donors" not only to deflect assistance from specific projects to direct and indirect unconditional budget support, but also to "accelerate the pace of their payments.
Admitting that there are some potential pitfalls, Karam nevertheless has challenged policymakers and financial analysts alike to "imagine oil barrels partially priced in Umma.