Lebanon's Stalling Economy: Key Figures

Lebanon, whose government hopes to raise billions of dollars at a donor meeting in France on Friday, is the world's third most-indebted country.

Growth in the small Middle Eastern country has dropped in the wake of repeated political crises and since conflict broke out in neighbouring Syria in 2011.

Here are some key figures:

- Slowed growth -Before Syria's war started in 2011, Lebanon's economic growth stood at an average of 9.1 percent for the three previous years.

But from 2011 to 2017, average growth was 1.7 percent, the International Monetary Fund says, and is expected to remain below two percent in 2018.

In parallel, the public deficit has more than doubled since 2011, with $4.8 billion projected for 2018, according to a budget voted last month.

- Debt -This slip in the state finances has propelled public debt to $80.4 billion, as of late January.

That was almost double the debt of $40.7 billion before a donor conference was last held for Lebanon in 2007, and a further increase from $52.6 billion before the conflict broke out.

Public debt was equivalent to 150 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2017 -- the third highest worldwide after Japan and Greece, according to the IMF. That was up from 131 percent of the GDP in 2012.

It is expected to reach around 180 percent in five years' time, the IMF says.

The total assets of the banking sector, one of the major pillars of the local economy, stood at $222 billion in January -- equivalent to four times the country's GDP.

- Commercial deficit -Lebanon depends largely on imports and suffers from a chronic commercial deficit. 

According to figures from customs, this shortfall reached $20.3 billion in 2017, in a 29 percent increase from the previous year.

The balance of payments stood at a negative $156 million.

That was better than a record deficit of $3.4 billion in 2015, but far from a positive balance of payments of $3.3 billion in 2010 before the Syrian war.

- Unemployment -Unemployment doubled between 2011 and 2014, when 20 percent of Lebanese were jobless, the IMF says.

And the number of people living in extreme poverty rose by 66 percent between 2011 an 2015, according to the charity Oxfam.

- Corruption -In 2016, more than 92 percent of Lebanon's population saw worsening corruption, graft watchdog Transparency International said. 

In its last report, the watchdog ranked Lebanon 143 out of 180 countries it surveyed for its perceived corruption index.