As the political process stutters back to life in Lebanon, the prospects for economic growth in the country have brightened. But various obstacles remain and, while not all of them lie within the government’s control, one of them is government itself.
Following a run of good years when gross domestic product (GDP) growth ranged between 8% and 10%, the Lebanese economy crashed to earth in 2011, after the outbreak of civil war in neighbouring Syria. The war has played havoc with export logistics in Lebanon, hurt the all-important tourist trade and put a damper on investment. Economic growth in 2015 and 2016 was no more than 1%, according to the International Monetary Fund.
