The World Bank announced yesterday that over a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has inflicted more than $5 billion in economic losses on Lebanon and damaged close to 100,000 homes.
In a report published yesterday, the World Bank estimated that the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has led to $5.1 billion in economic losses for Lebanon between 8 October 2023 and 27 October 2024.
The losses are “largely concentrated in the commerce and tourism and hospitality sector as well as in the agriculture sector,” the report said.
“The final cost of damage and losses for Lebanon associated with the conflict is expected to significantly exceed those presented in this assessment,” it added.
The conflict has also “damaged an estimated 99,209 housing units” mainly in Lebanon’s south near the border with Israel, totaling $2.8 billion in damages, it said.
Around 81 per cent of the destroyed homes are located in the Tyre, Nabatiyeh, Saida, Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun districts.
On 1 October, Israel expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon and has been seen to be blowing up entire neighbourhoods.
The World Bank projects a 6.6 per cent reduction in Lebanon’s real GDP growth for 2024 due to the escalating conflict, worsening an economic crisis that began in 2019 and has plunged much of the population into poverty. “This compounds five years of sustained sharp economic contraction in Lebanon that has exceeded 34 percent of real GDP, losing the equivalent of 15 years of economic growth,” the World Bank said.
More than 3,100 people have been killed by Israel in Lebanon and over 13,800 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.
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