Lebanon has spent $5.5 billion on reconstruction over the past seven years. According to a fresh report by the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), of this sum about $4.5 billion came from abroad, a Riyadh daily reports. By the time the 15-year civil war ended in 1990, Lebanon faced a ruined infrastructure in all sectors.
The CDR, a governmental body that supervises the reconstruction projects, disclosed that during 1992-1997 the reconstruction costs amounted to $5.5 billion on various sectors including electricity, telecommunications, water, roads and education. Through these investments, the electricity generation capacity expanded three-fold. Additionally, the investment in the telecommunications sector helped to provide a phone line for each 4 residents, a high number in regional terms.
The foreign financing for these projects was estimated at $4.49 billion, out of which $641 million were grants, about $1.7 billion were facilitated loans and the rest were commercial loans. The international financing from European bodies amounted to 17 percent of the total, from the World Bank - 15 percent, from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development - 11 percent and from Italy - 9 percent. (albawaba.com staff)
