Syria Crisis To Cost Neighbours Lebanon $7.5 Billion In Economic Damage: World Bank

The spillover from Syria’s civil war is likely to cost neighbours Lebanon nearly $7.5 billion in economic damage by the end of next year, according to a report by the World Bank, highlighting the devastating effect of the prolonged conflict for not just Syria, but for the entire Middle East region.

The spillover from Syria’s civil war is likely to cost neighbours Lebanon nearly $7.5 billion in economic damage by the end of next year, according to a report by the World Bank, highlighting the devastating effect of the prolonged conflict for not just Syria, but for the entire Middle East region.

In its report prepared before an aid meeting at the United Nations next week, the World Bank said that the Syrian crisis, which has raged on more than two years, had seen more than 900,000 Syrian refugees pouring into Lebanon, causing a strain on Lebanon’s health, education and energy sectors.

The World Bank also estimated that about 2,000 Syrian refugees were arriving into Lebanon every day and, based on current trends, nearly 1.3 million refugees would be in Lebanon by the end of the year.

[quote]“With the escalation of the Syrian conflict, spillovers onto Lebanon have rapidly moved beyond the humanitarian to the economic and social spheres,” the report said, as cited by the Associated Press.[/quote]

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It estimated that the war and resulting wave of refugees into Lebanon will cut real GDP growth by 2.85 percent a year between 2012 to 2014, double unemployment to above 20 percent and widen the deeply indebted nation’s deficit by $2.6 billion as government spending will have to increase by $1.1 billion because of the surge in demand for public services.

Lebanese hospitals and schools have struggled to deal with the influx of Syrian refugees, with an estimated 150,000 Syrian children expected to enrol in Lebanese schools next year. About 40 percent of primary healthcare services also went towards Syrian refugees last December.

According to Reuters, Lebanese officials have complained that while international donors have helped fund U.N. and other agencies in Lebanon, the country has received little direct international support to absorb the economic shocks of the crisis.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is due to lead a meeting of donors at the United Nations annual summit meeting next week, where he will try to raise financial assistance to provide humanitarian and development aid to Lebanon, while strengthening Lebanon’s armed forces.

U.S. ambassador to Lebanon David Hale said on Thursday that the aid would be crucial “not only for humanitarian reasons, but for Lebanon’s very stability”.

Speaking after meeting with Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, Hale said the crisis put a responsibility on world powers to “help deal with a situation which we all know is well beyond Lebanon’s capacity to deal with alone”.

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