The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published this week its “2021 Handbook of Statistics” report in which it provided a list of indicators pertaining to international trade, investment, and development across the globe. According to the report, international trade showed has declined significantly in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of fuel prices (exports of fuel down by 33%). In addition, the report revealed that the export of agricultural raw materials dropped by 6% in 2020 while those of manufactured goods fell by 4%. On the other hand, the report also noted that the export of ores, metals, and precious stones grew by 6%, with trade of food products rising by circa 2%. World merchandise exports contracted to just below $17.62 trillion in 2020, from around $18.93 trillion a year earlier, with merchandise imports concurrently dropping to $17.83 trillion, from $19.26 trillion in 2019. This pattern was also witnessed among developed and developing economies, whose merchandise exports dropped to $9.53 trillion and $8.09 trillion from $9.87 trillion and $8.41 trillion respectively, while their merchandise imports decreased to $10.32 trillion and $7.51 trillion, down from $10.70 trillion and $8.05 trillion on a respective basis. 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, with the value of its exports reaching $319.28 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia ($173.85 billion) and Turkey ($169.65 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 $225.74 billion in 2020, followed by Turkey ($219.52 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($138.00 billion), among others. Locally, the UNCTAD statistical handbook revealed that Lebanon’s merchandise exports dropped to $4.09 billion in 2020, from $4.83 billion in the previous year, with merchandise imports seeing a sharp drop to $11.36 billion, down from $19.64 billion in 2019 as a result of the squeezed foreign currency liquidity in the banking sector which constrained imports’ activity. Lebanon ranked as such 10^th in the West Asia region in merchandise exports in 2020, unchanged from the previous year, while losing two positions in merchandise imports to rank 10^th, compared to its 8^th rank in 2019.

From another standpoint, the UNCTAD estimated Lebanon’s nominal GDP per capita at $8,655 in 2020 and its real economic growth at -31.2% in the year 2020. In addition, the report indicated that FDI inflows to Lebanon rose to $3.07 billion in 2020, up from $2.13 billion in 2019, with the country’s current account balance registering an estimated deficit of $8.3 billion compared to a larger deficit of $11.54 billion in the previous year. Finally, the report noted that Lebanon is one of three countries with an inflation rate surpassing the 80% mark in 2020, sparked by the unprecedented depreciation of the Lebanese Pound against the US Dollar with a CPI growth of 88.2%, in comparison with 3.0% in 2019, as outlined in the table below: