Fransabank published its economic bulletin for the first quarter of 2019, which includes a report on the performance of the Lebanese economy during this period. The report revealed that the economic growth rate for 2019 is still weak, within the 1 percent limits, due to the stagnation of private investment and weak public investment, and the decrease of net exports level, while the government spending and consumer spending for the household sector are moving the economic activity.
According to the report, some economic sectors achieved better activity in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, such as air transport (passenger arrivals increased by 1.2% to more than 1.7 million passengers), and tourism (where the number of tourists increased by 3.7% to more than 362 thousand tourists).
In contrast, most other economic sectors recorded a decline in their activity, such as the real estate sector, (where real estate sales decreased by 19.2%, licensed construction shrank by 27.6%, cement deliveries declined by 31.3%), and maritime transport (decreased by 16.2% and the quantity of goods by 14.3%), and the internal trade (where the value of clearing checks decreased by 12% and the value of the returned checks increased by 2.2%), and the financing of SMEs (the value of loans of guarantees decreased by 71.7%).
Source (Economic Bulletin website, Edited)
