PMI rises to three-month high in May, moving closer to the growth threshold

The BLOM Lebanon PMI rose to 49.7 in May 2026, from 48.2 in April, while staying in the contraction zone for the 3rd month in a row. Indices for both total new orders and exports slowed, but the pace of decline eased, the latter noticeably to 41.9 from April’s low of 30.0. The new export orders index follows foreign demand for both goods and services, while taking fixed holidays into account. Since Adha holiday dates are tentative, and last year they fell in June, it seems they capped the destruction in new export orders by limiting tourism’s decline, especially as during May many Lebanese expats living in the Gulf were not required to work from office given the security situation there. Besides, it appears that regional and local ceasefires, however grossly imperfect, provided some respite to domestic and foreign new orders.

For the full Macro report, click HERE.

For the PR reports, click HERE for the English version and HERE for the Arabic version.

For the full PMI reports, click HERE for the English version and HERE for the Arabic version.