Lebanon needs $2.6 billion to counter Syria war impact

Reuters

Lebanon will need $2.6 billion in budget support over a three-year period to help it overcome the impact of the civil war in neighboring Syria, caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi said on Wednesday.

Lebanon hosts at least 800,000 registered refugees from Syria, but Safadi said a total of 1.5 million Syrians were now living in the country, putting a huge additional burden on its health, education and power budgets.

A World Bank study last month put that extra cost at nearly $900 million a year between 2012 and 2014, and said the Syrian crisis was cutting 2.85 percent a year off Lebanon's economic growth.

Source: Reuters FULL STORY