Prime Minister Saad Hariri declared Wednesday that the GDP growth rate in Lebanon has reduced from 8%, before the outbreak of the refugee crisis, to a little over 1% over the past few years.
During his participation in Brussels conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region,” Hariri added that the losses sustained since the outbreak of the Syrian war reached USD 18 billion in 2015, noting that the poverty rate has reached 30%, while the unemployment rate doubled to reach 20%.
During his speech, the prime minister stressed that the public services have been working overload, while the infrastructure in the country is exhausted and the budget deficit has worsened.
“We have placed a clear strategy to deal with the severe repercussions caused by the Syrian crisis and that depends on two main pillars: first launching a program to invest the capital on a wide scale to create jobs for both Lebanese and Syrians and providing all the Syrian refugee children with education,” he explained.
Prior to the inauguration of the conference, Hariri had called on the International Community to assume responsibility toward Lebanon.
“We need development in Lebanon to keep hosting the Syrian refugees,” he said.
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