World Bank Revises Downward Lebanon Growth to 4%

The World Bank has revised economic growth in Lebanon downward to four percent from a January forecast of seven percent for 2011 and forecast a fiscal deficit of 5.5 percent of GDP.

The projected growth rate still makes Lebanon the seventh fastest growing economy in the Middle East and North Africa, which is expected to reach 4.1 percent growth in 2011, according to a World Bank report published by Lebanon's Byblos Bank this week.

The World Bank also forecast Lebanon's fiscal balance would post a deficit of 5.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2011, relative to a surplus of 1.4 percent of GDP for the Middle East and North Africa.

The International Monetary Fund too has revised downward economic growth for Lebanon to 2.5 percent for 2011.

The gloomier forecasts follow an economic boom in recent years that saw Lebanon witness a record 7.5 percent growth in 2010.

Lebanon staggers under a public debt of more than 53 billion dollars (38.8 billion euros), equivalent to around 135 percent of the country's GDP.

Famed for its tourism sector, the country witnessed a 15.5 percent drop in the number of tourists for the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

Property transactions also fell 21 percent quarter on quarter while customs revenues dropped some 20 percent compared to the same period last year.

The decline was widely attributed to the uprisings gripping the region coupled with domestic troubles that left Beirut without a government for five months.