2015 the worst for Lebanon both economically and socially

In its issue of December 31, 2015, An Nahar daily described last year as the worst financially and economically while relating this situation to a number of negative factors, mainly the economic status quo, legislative and governmental paralysis and the far-reaching effects of the war in neighboring Syria particularly the ensuing refugee crisis. An Nahar went on to say that forecasts for economic growth for 2015 ranged between 1 and 1.5%. However, the actual result will not exceed 1% at best, with an inflation rate equivalent to 0%. On the other hand, the newspaper reported that the banking sector remained intact and resilient despite the harsh overall national context.

Within the same vein, Al Mustaqbal daily noted in its issue of today, that the fall in growth rates was not limited to one sector, but affected various sectors of national economy, including trade, industry, tourism, construction, agriculture and services, with trade and tourism being the hardest affected. The newspaper went on to say that after some breakthroughs in tourism during the first half of 2015, the second half was disappointing in view of the waste management crisis that triggered street demonstrations and civil protests which in turn negatively impacted the image of the country domestically and externally. Consequently, trade and the domestic economy at large missed on the business opportunity of annual holidaying, thus making the year 2015 the worst in recent records. According to Al Mustaqbal, the rate of unemployment has now exceeded 25% generally, and 35% among the youth, while the total number of the impoverished people between 2011 and 2012 has exceeded the one million mark. (An Nahar, December 31, 2015, Al Mustaqbal, January 4, 2016)