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Lebanon

Updated: July 2026

Key Insights
The resources applied by the Lebanese government to collect, compile, and publish national accounts data are inadequate to ensure comprehensive, timely, and reliable macroeconomic statistics, severely constrained by systemic economic crisis and institutional breakdown.

The central statistical authority, the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), along with the Banque du Liban (BdL), operates under acute structural and operational pressures:
  • Impact of Severe Economic and Financial Crisis: Since the late 2019 financial collapse, extreme currency depreciation, high inflation, and severe state budget contraction have severely disrupted state operations. Public sector salary erosion and resource shortages have constrained CAS's operational capacity to conduct field operations and routine surveys.
  • Informalisation and Unrecorded Economic Activity: The systemic crisis has led to a massive expansion of the informal economy, widespread cash-based dollarisation, and unrecorded cross-border flows. Capturing these informal channels in standard national accounts presents extreme methodological challenges.
  • Multiple Exchange Rates and Price Deflator Distortions: The historical existence of parallel exchange rates and rapid currency fluctuations complicates the calculation of accurate price indices, real GDP estimates, and trade metrics, introducing significant distortions into official deflators.
  • Operational Delays and Publication Gaps: CAS faces persistent staffing and funding shortages, leading to substantial publication lags for fundamental economic series, including updated GDP figures, industrial output indicators, and living standards benchmarks.
  • Heavy Reliance on External Technical Assistance: Modernisation efforts, capacity rebuilding, and major statistical exercises rely heavily on technical and financial support from international institutions, including the World Bank, the IMF, and United Nations agencies.

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Data Quality Warning
Lebanon's data has been rated as poor and unreliable, it should not be used for serious decision-making. Show data anyway