View of Beirut from a tower in Dikwaneh on Oct. 13, 2026. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros / L'Orient-Le Jour)
In its latest quarterly report, Bank Audi’s research department said the Lebanese economy “withstood the summer relatively well,” despite the financial crisis that has persisted since 2019 and the intermittent war between Hezbollah and Israel since 2023. Blom Bank shares this assessment, with its Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which measures the confidence of purchasing managers, was maintained slightly above its equilibrium point. While not portraying the situation as positive, Bank Audi points out that the 6.4% decline in GDP forecast for 2026 by the World Bank and the government could have been worse. Arrivals at Beirut International Airport, for example, fell by 5.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026, compared with 44.4% in the previous quarter. This improvement moderated the decline over the first nine months of the year,...
In its latest quarterly report, Bank Audi’s research department said the Lebanese economy “withstood the summer relatively well,” despite the financial crisis that has persisted since 2019 and the intermittent war between Hezbollah and Israel since 2023. Blom Bank shares this assessment, with its Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which measures the confidence of purchasing managers, was maintained slightly above its equilibrium point. While not portraying the situation as positive, Bank Audi points out that the 6.4% decline in GDP forecast for 2026 by the World Bank and the government could have been worse. Arrivals at Beirut International Airport, for example, fell by 5.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026, compared with 44.4% in the previous quarter. This improvement moderated the decline over the first nine months of...