Lebanon Company & Beneficial Ownership Directory

Analysis

What this data actually tells you about Lebanon

Lebanon remains in the grip of one of the world’s most severe modern financial and currency crises, now layered with renewed conflict. Nominal GDP was estimated at roughly $34.5 billion in 2025 (IMF-derived), with GDP per capita rising from roughly $5,480 (2024) to roughly $6,443 (2025), a rise reflecting both partial recovery and currency-valuation effects rather than a clean real increase. Growth estimates for 2025 diverge meaningfully across institutions, the World Bank projected 4.7-5% real growth following an estimated 7.1% contraction in 2024, while Moody’s projected a more conservative 2.5%, both predating the conflict that resumed in 2026 and materially changed the trajectory. Inflation eased from 45.24% in 2024 to roughly 14.8-15.2% in 2025, the lowest since the crisis began, though a later data point suggesting inflation near 19% by May 2026 should be independently verified, since it may reflect renewed conflict impact. The Lebanese pound has been pegged at an official, unified rate of 89,500 LBP/USD since February 15, 2024, alongside a de facto dollarized economy; Karim A. Souaid was appointed Banque du Liban governor in March 2025. National poverty rose from 25% (2019) to 44% (2022, the latest hard figures), though Lebanon’s official poverty line still rests on a stale 2012 household survey. Population is estimated at approximately 4.04 million, with no national census held since 1932, alongside a Syrian refugee population estimated by the government at roughly 1.5 million against roughly 716,300 UNHCR-registered, a large and unresolved methodology gap.

Remittances remain central to the economy, at $5.8 billion in 2024, equivalent to 17.7% of GDP and accounting for over 80% of Lebanon’s total external resource flows when combined with FDI and aid. The banking crisis remains fundamentally unresolved: an estimated $86-93 billion sits frozen across roughly 1.26 million accounts, down from a 2009 deposit peak of $172 billion, with Banque du Liban carrying roughly $49 billion in accumulated losses; Lebanon has not made Eurobond payments since its March 2020 default, with bondholder losses since likely exceeding 65% on $31 billion in outstanding principal. A Financial Gap Law approved December 27, 2025 addresses an estimated $80-83 billion gap between deposits owed and bank holdings, though reporting describes it as failing to ensure actual cash recovery for depositors, an unresolved rather than solved crisis; a new IMF program has been sought but, per the sources reviewed for this content, had not yet been concluded. The World Bank’s Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covering October 2023 to December 2024 found $11 billion in total reconstruction and recovery needs from that conflict, with housing alone accounting for $4.6 billion; this figure predates a substantially larger conflict that began around late February 2026, for which no consolidated, updated damage assessment has been located, a genuine and significant data gap this content does not attempt to fill.

Lebanon’s political transition continued through 2025-2026 amid escalating conflict. President Joseph Aoun was elected January 9, 2025, ending a vacancy of over two years, with Nawaf Salam appointed Prime Minister on February 8, 2025. Reporting indicates that in late February 2026, US and Israeli strikes on Iran resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader and a number of senior Iranian officials, precipitating an Iranian leadership crisis; Hezbollah reportedly launched projectiles into northern Israel on March 2, 2026 for the first time since the November 2024 ceasefire, reigniting a larger conflict, with reported Lebanese civilian casualties and displacement substantially exceeding those of the 2023-2024 war. Citing the conflict, Lebanon’s parliament voted 76-41 on March 9, 2026 to extend its own mandate to May 31, 2028, postponing elections originally scheduled for May 2026, a move opposition figures rejected and that generated significant constitutional debate. A ceasefire took effect April 16, 2026 and has formally held since amid continued friction over implementation. Judge Tarek Bitar reportedly concluded the investigative phase of the Beirut port explosion probe on March 30, 2026, referring roughly 70 suspects to the prosecutor. This content presents these developments factually and with explicit dates throughout, and given the scale and recency of what is described here, counterparties should independently verify current political and security status before relying on any figure in this content.