A Glance on the Lebanese Economy: H1 2019

Abstract

The study explores the macroeconomic indications of the Lebanese economy and therefore comes to update the findings of the similar report published in Sept. 2018 and to interpret the impact of national and regional developments on the Lebanese economy since then, to-date. While macro parameters remain weak amid an environment of subdued growth, the authorities exhibit a number of steps forward on the fiscal adjustment path.  

Growth was subdued in H1 2019, as Lebanon’s private sector refrained from investing in future businesses. Lebanon’s economic growth stood at an estimated 0% in H1 2019. Economic growth was capped due to sectorial slowdowns as well as persisting crowding out of the private sector in the first half of the year due to high interest rates. In fact, the BLOM Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a predictive power[1] for economic growth, stalled at an average of 46.5 in H1 2019, compared to 46.6 and 47.1 in H1 2018 and 2017, respectively. The average PMI score in H1 2019 was underpinned by persisting pressures on private sector companies who adopted a wait-and-see approach as they monitor the political and economic reform plan to gradually materialize, stabilize the operating environment, and kick start their investment.  

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A Glance on the Lebanese Economy: H1 2019

 

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