The World Bank's teams have been resorting to the use of a mix of standard tools and innovative geospatial and remote-based data sources (e.g., nighttime lights, shipping-position data, traffic congestion data, aviation statistics, mobile phone location data, remote sensing vegetation indices,...

Now moving into its twelfth year, the conflict in Syria has inflicted a devastating impact on the inhabitants and the economy. Beyond the immediate impact of the conflict, the economy suffers from the compounding effects of the pandemic, adverse weather events, regional fragility, and...

Twelve years into a devastating civil war, a one-in-two-century earthquake devastated northwestern Syria. The 7.6 Richter scale shock was the deadliest in Syria after the one that hit Aleppo in 1822. Using novel data sources, such as big data, this Syria Economic Monitor analyzes what happens to...

This Syria Economic Monitor leverages innovative alternative and remote-based data sources to analyze recent economic developments in a nation still grappling with the most deadly and one of the most protracted conflicts in recent history. Throughout 2023, Syria's dire economic situation...

Lebanon is hit by yet another crisis: the spillover effects of the conflict in the Middle East. While the country remains mired in political and institutional vacuum, and a crippling socioeconomic crisis for over four years, it has now been hit by another large shock: fear that the current...

The geo-economy presents Lebanon with challenges associated with being a nexus for regional fault lines and risks from its dependence on capital inflows. Despite markedly improved security conditions since the start of 2015, anxiety over regional turmoil and potential spillover effectspersist....

Lebanon's macro-financial conditions are currently under heavy scrutiny as the country faces increasing challenges. The risk profile for Lebanon is rising sharply in light of the convergence of a number of negative local and global factors, including global monetary conditions. Meanwhile, the...

Lebanon is in Crisis. While it is too early to gauge the economic impact of recent events, it is important to note that even prior to the eruption of the demonstrations, the World Bank projected a small recession in 2019; we now estimate that the recession will be deeper. There has been an...

The Lebanon Economic Monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Lebanon. It places them in a longer-term and global context and assesses the implications of these developments and other...

The Lebanon financial and economic crisis is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top three, most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century. This is a conclusion of the Spring 2021 Lebanon economic monitor (LEM) in which the Lebanon crisis is contrasted with the most...