The Lebanese economy is “starting to collapse” due to the conflict, warns the head of the United Nations Development Program
Lebanon’s economy is “starting to collapse” due to the worsening conflict between the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah and Israel, which for a month has increased air strikes in addition to having launched a ground offensive on the country , alerted the head of UNDP on Thursday.
Lebanon, in economic crisis for years, is now “struggling” to “simply cope with the immediate effects of bombings, displacements and the destruction of infrastructure”, observes Achim Steiner, administrator of the United Nations Development Program, interviewed by AFP.
“It is the basic services which are collapsing, the transport system, the production of electricity”, he lists, so many “fundamentals which allow a society to function”.
On Wednesday, UNDP released its forecast for Lebanon in 2024, estimating that its GDP would contract by 9.2% if the conflict continues until the end of the year.
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