Figuring figures

This article is part of an Executive special report on Lebanese industry. Read more stories as they’re published here, or pick up October’s issue at newsstands in Lebanon. What’s the Lebanese industrial sector worth? That’s the million dollar question,” says Cristiano Pasini, representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Beirut. In collaboration with Lebanon’s Ministry of Industry, UNIDO aims to promote inclusive and sustainable development of the industrial sector to accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty, with an emphasis on capacity building and technology transfer. “To get an idea about the general state of the sector, we tend to look at a combination of statistics,” he said. “First, we look at the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and its annual growth rate. Secondly, we look at industrial exports, which in principle are a good indication of the sector’s general health, although you will have to take into