Lebanon’s public finances have long been precarious. According to the World Bank, in the 10 years prior to the Syrian conflict, the fiscal deficit averaged 9.7% of GDP, taking the debt to GDP ratio to a peak of 183% in 2006.
In the period 2006-2010, robust economic activity and the post war rebound boosted government revenues. However, this positive trend started to subside one year later, in 2011 when the Syrian and other Arab uprisings broke out. The following scrolls through Lebanon’s public finance performance during 2013, especially since the economy was rattled by local instabilities and regional tumults…