The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published its “2018 Handbook of Statistics” report this week in which it provided a list of statistics and indicators pertaining to international trade, investment, and development across the globe. According to the report, international trade showed some improvement in 2017 after a brief slowdown, with the world’s merchandise exports rising to $17.71 trillion, from $15.99 trillion in 2016, and merchandise imports increasing to around $18 trillion. This pattern was witnessed among developed, transition, and developing economies. On the regional front, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) topped the list of West Asian countries in terms of merchandise exports for yet another consecutive year, which reached $313.50 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia ($218.37 billion) and Turkey ($156.99 billion), only to name a few. The UAE also came in first in the region in terms of merchandise imports, with its imports bill aggregating to $273.66 billion in 2017, followed by Turkey ($233.80 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($134.52 billion), among others. Locally, the UNCTAD statistical handbook revealed that Lebanon’s merchandise exports rose to $4.03 billion in 2017, from $3.93 billion in the previous year, with merchandise imports expanding to $19.91 billion, up from $18.96 billion in 2016. Lebanon ranked as such 10^th in the West Asia region in merchandise exports and 9^th in merchandise imports. 

From another standpoint, the UNCTAD estimated Lebanon’s GDP per capita at $8,655 in 2017 and real economic growth at 1.8%. In addition, the report indicated that FDI Inflows to Lebanon reached $2.63 billion in 2017, with the country’s current account balance registering a deficit of $11.24 billion, as outlined in the table below: