Hosting Syrian refugees
costs $1.5 billion per year

World Bank will present its assessment to donors

The cost of hosting the Syrian refugees is nearly $1.5 billion per year and donors must assume a large chunk of it because Lebanon is unable to carry the entire burden alone, said Ferid Belhaj, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank.

Belhaj said the cost has been estimated by a new World Bank report that assesses the economic and social impact of the refugee influx.

He said the World Bank will present the report to donors and to the Lebanese public in order to underscore the impact on the budget, economic contraction, and social conditions.

The World Bank conducted a similar study ten years ago that had shown that the cumulative impact of hosting the refugees over the period 2012-2014 widened the fiscal deficit by $2.6 billion and that additional spending of $2.5 billion was needed to reinstate access to and quality of public services to their level before the Syrian war.