The 1975-90 civil war seriously damaged lebanon's economic infrastructure, cut national output by half, and all but ended lebanon's position as a middle eastern entrepot and banking hub. in the years since, lebanon has rebuilt much of its war-torn physical and financial infrastructure by borrowing heavily - mostly from domestic banks. in an attempt to reduce the ballooning national debt, the rafiq hariri government in the 1990s began an austerity program, reining in government expenditures, increasing revenue collection, and privatizing state enterprises, but economic and financial reform initiatives stalled and public debt continued to grow despite receipt of more than $2 billion in bilateral assistance at the 2002 paris ii donors conference. the israeli-hizballah conflict in july-august 2006 caused an estimated $3.6 billion in infrastructure damage, and prompted international donors to pledge nearly $1 billion in recovery and reconstruction assistance. donors met again in january 2007 at the paris iii donor conference and pledged more than $7.5 billion to lebanon for development projects and budget support, conditioned on progress on beirut's fiscal reform and privatization program. an 18-month political stalemate and sporadic sectarian and political violence hampered economic activity, particularly tourism, retail sales, and investment, until a new government was formed in july 2008.
Deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in beirut from vehicular traffic and the burning of industrial wastes; pollution of coastal waters from raw sewage and oil spills
Republic
3,971,941 (july 2008 est.)
Middle east, bordering the mediterranean sea, between israel and syria
Total: 10,400 sq km land: 10,230 sq km water: 170 sq km
About 0.7 times the size of connecticut
Conventional long form: lebanese republic conventional short form: lebanon local long form: al jumhuriyah al lubnaniyah local short form: lubnan former: greater lebanon
Name: beirut geographic coordinates: 33 52 n, 35 30 e time difference: utc+2 (7 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last sunday in march; ends last sunday in october
18-30 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2007)
Lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the boundary, portions of the lebanon-syria boundary are unclear with several sections in dispute; since 2000, lebanon has claimed shab'a farms area in the israeli-occupied golan heights; the roughly 2,000-strong un interim force in lebanon (unifil) has been in place since 1978