The financial situation in Lebanon

This has been a difficult year for the Lebanese economy, sectors of activity, and financial markets at large. Compounding matters, political uncertainties have grown, especially during the second half of 2018. This year has witnessed a low real GDP growth, which Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank, estimates at 2 percent and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates at 1 percent. The Lebanese economy needs to grow at no less than 6 percent annually to ensure sufficient job creation to meet the annual demand for jobs by the estimated 30,000 Lebanese joining the labor force each year. The BDL coincident indicator, a gauge of real sector activity, demonstrated over the first nine months of 2018 a growth speed at half that experienced during the same period in the past five years. The evolution of real sector indicators suggests that almost all economic sectors experienced additional weaknesses this year. As