Lebanon

Lebanon, in long form the Republic of Lebanon, is a state in the Middle East. Largely mountainous, it borders Syria to the north and east for 376 km, Israel to the south for 79 km, and Cyprus to the west, off its 220 km coastline in the Levantine basin.

General presentation

Official name: Republic of Lebanon
Type of government: Parliamentary Republic
Area: 10,452km2
Capital: Beirut
Main cities: Tripoli, Saida, Tyre, Zahle
Official language(s): Arabic, special status of French

National holiday: November 22

Population: 6.8 million, including almost 1 million Syrian refugees
Literacy rate: 93.5
Source: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Economic situation

The country has been going through an acute economic and financial crisis since 2018, accentuated by the covid-19 pandemic since March 2020, by the double explosion on the port of Beirut that occurred on August 4 of the same year, and finally by the absence of any reform and adjustment that would allow for the beginning of a recovery. After averaging around 8% per year from 2008 to 2011 and slightly less than 2% on average between 2012 and 2017, the economy entered a recession in 2018 (-2%) which strengthened in 2019 (-6.5%) to reach -20.3% in 2020 and almost -10% in 2021, according to the latest estimates of the IMF and the WB. The combination of the recession and the depreciation of the Lebanese pound on the parallel market (the LBP/USD exchange rate on the parallel market having reached 28,000 in mid- December, while the official exchange rate is 1,507.5) is expected to continue this downward trend in 2022 (a further contraction in GDP is expected).
Source: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Bilateral Relations

Bilateral investment treaties

Work in process

Double taxation agreements

Work in process

Free trade agreements

Work in process

Leading sector for Swiss companies

agriculture : 5% of the total
industry : 20% of the total
services : 75% of the total

Indicators

201620172018 E2019 E
GDP (in billions of USD) 51.4854.1856.7159.73
GDP per capita (USD)11.5212.0112.4512.99
Growth rate1.71.51.01.4
Unemployment rate
Inflation rate-0.84.56.53.5
Public debt (% of GDP)145.45146.79149.99152.92
Budget balance (% of GDP)-11.18-12.37-14.54-14.24
Current account balance (% of GDP)-21.7-22.8-25.6-24.4

(Sources FMI, Banque Mondiale)

Main customers

2018: E AU 15.5%, A S 7.2%, S Africa 5.9%, Iraq 5%, Qatar 4.5%
Source: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Main suppliers

2018: China 10.3%, Greece 8.5%, Italy 8%, USA 7.2%, Germany 5.8%
Source: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Swiss exports to

Work in process

Exports of …. to Switzerland

Work in process

Swiss direct investment in

Work in process

The business climate

Work in process