The lost year

In discussions of the economy in 2013, one word is ubiquitous — Syria. Lebanon, as the feuding state’s smallest neighbor and the one with the largest number of refugees, has been the most heavily affected by the civil war. In January there were 165,000 registered refugees in Lebanon. As Executive went to print, that number had risen to nearly 800,000. The knock-on effect has been more than merely increased congestion in the country’s already overcrowded cities. The deteriorating security situation has led to a major fall in year-on-year consumer confidence, according to Byblos Bank, and a 10 percent drop in tourism, according to government figures. In terms of trade, many overland routes have become impassable. The sheer scale of the crisis has put huge pressure on the economy. On a macro level, in September the World Bank estimated the cumulative damage at $7.5 billion from the beginning of 2012 until