Foreign direct investments in Lebanon plummeted 84 percent year on year to $96.5 million in the first half of 2012, a report by Ernst & Young said. Accounting for just 0.5 percent of total FDI in Arab countries, Lebanon was the second smallest recipient of FDIs in the region, only ahead of Libya, the 2012 Middle East Attractiveness Survey said.
Lebanon had attracted $609 million in FDIs in 2011, equivalent to 1 percent of total FDIs in the region, the report quoted by Byblos Bank's weekly economic publication said. FDI inflows to Lebanon had fallen 62.7 percent last year from 2010 levels.
A total of 2,447 new FDI-related jobs were created in Lebanon last year, equivalent to 2.6 percent of total FDI-related jobs created in the region.
In the first half of 2012, Lebanon attracted just 10 FDI projects.
The report indicated that FDIs contributed to the creation of 530 jobs in the first half of the year, equivalent to 1.3 percent of the total number of jobs created in Arab countries.
The number of FDI-created jobs in Lebanon was also the second lowest in the region, ahead of Libya, where FDI created 244 jobs.
Attracting 140 projects, the FDIs contributed to the creation of 11,734 jobs for the second biggest GCC economy.
