Lebanon requested IMF technical assistance. How indebted is Lebanon?

Lebanon is a country located in southwest Asia, but the current situation in Lebanon can be said to be very bad. Economic and political conflicts are intertwined, because there are many domestic parties in Lebanon that often conflict, and there are conflicts with its neighbors. Relations between Israel and Syria are also very tense.

According to surveys, Lebanon is now one of the most indebted countries in the world, and has even requested technical assistance from the IMF. Just when the economic crisis could not be solved, the Prime Minister of Lebanon resigned. Now the political conflict is very fierce. , the domestic economic crisis was very serious, so no one was willing to run for prime minister, which also led to the dissolution of the cabinet. For a while, the formation of Lebanon's new government reached a deadlock, and the main contradiction lay between the various parties.

The current political conflicts have further worsened the already indebted economy in the country. Everyone is worried that Lebanon will fall into deadlock and bankruptcy.

According to World Bank data, in 2018, Lebanon’s fiscal deficit worsened sharply and the inflation rate soared rapidly. Lebanon is a country that relies heavily on foreign investment and has now sought investment from the United Arab Emirates. Buffer the domestic economic crisis.

Another reason is that after the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, many Syrians took refuge in Lebanese, which also led to unfair social sharing in Lebanon, leading to income inequality. And because Lebanon is highly dependent on imported goods, but now Lebanon is in an economic crisis, many banks have stopped issuing US dollars. Lebanon has borrowed U.S. dollars from the central bank in order to keep people fed, but this continuous borrowing of funds will make Lebanon's debt ratio even higher.

The recent political crisis and economic crisis are caused by the accumulation of multiple factors. The domestic conflict in Syria and the US sanctions against Iran for supporting Hezbollah have had a great impact on the Lebanese economic crisis, so the Syrian crisis is now resolved by Lebanon. The key to the problem is that if Syrian refugees continue to come to Lebanon, it will lead to an increase in the unemployment rate among Lebanese citizens.

So the current economic situation in Lebanon can be said to be unpredictable whether it will go bankrupt like Greece.