Lebanon - Balance of payments

Lebanon traditionally maintained a favorable balance of payments, with rising trade deficits more than offset by net earnings from services, transfers of foreign capital, and remittances from Lebanese workers abroad. Although the trade deficit increased substantially between 1977 and 1984, a balance of payments deficit was recorded only for the last two years of the period. By 1985, a surplus of $249 million was again achieved, with a modest trade recovery following in 1986–87. Hostilities in the industrial and prosperous areas of Lebanon in 1989–90 triggered a substantial outflow of capital and a deficit in the balance of payments. Order was restored in 1991 and a resumption of capital inflows averted larger deficits in the following years. In 1995, net capital inflows offset a large trade deficit to produce a $256 million surplus in the balance of payments. A large portion of the trade imbalance consists of imports of machinery that should ultimately increase productivity. In 2000, the balance of payments registered a deficit of $289 million, which compared to a $267.7 million surplus in 1999.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports that in 2001 the purchasing power parity of Lebanon's exports was $700 million while imports totaled $6.6 billion resulting in a trade deficit of $5.9 billion.