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Economic Growth and Trade

Economic Growth & Trade in Lebanon
A fisherman, one of more than 3,500 USAID micro-loan beneficiaries, was able to improve his business thanks to a small loan.
USAID

Historically, Lebanon has been a center of trade and culture. Due to a solid banking sector, Lebanon witnessed a growth spurt between 2007 and 2010, during which real GDP growth averaged around 8 percent. More than 28 percent of the population lives on less than $4 a day.  Economic activities outside Beirut, such as agriculture and rural tourism, have not kept pace with international competition or with other parts of the Lebanese economy. 

As increasing political and economic pressures compound the difficulties in rural Lebanon, USAID’s programs work to provide opportunities for jobs with competitive wages in these areas and to ensure that rural Lebanese share equally in the country’s prosperity. We work to lower production costs to competitive levels, improve productivity through new technologies and trainings, and expand connections between markets in rural economic sectors. Our goal is to enhance competitiveness for micro-, small- and medium-sized business so that individual incomes can rise above the national minimum wage rate.

Our impacts in this sector include: