In its semi-annual survey on the country risk of 185 countries, Euromoney magazine ranked Lebanon 74th worldwide, down from 73rd in the previous survey, and 11th among 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The survey evaluates individual country risk by assigning a weighting to nine categories that cover political risk, economic performance, debt indicators, debt in default or rescheduled debt, credit ratings, access to bank finance, access to short-term finance, access to capital markets, and discount on forfeiting.
Lebanon ranked ahead of Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen in the region, and came immediately behind Guatemala, Fiji and Colombia on a global basis. The United Arab Emirates had the lowest country risk in the MENA region while Luxembourg had the lowest risk worldwide.
In parallel, Euromoney’s semi-annual survey on the economic performance of 153 countries ranked Lebanon 98th worldwide, up from 118th in the previous survey, and 16th among 18 countries in the MENA region.
The survey evaluated individual economies on the basis of economic growth, monetary stability, current account, budget deficit or surplus, unemployment, and structural imbalances. It forecast Lebanon’s GNP growth at 2.6 percent in 2001 and 3.9 percent for 2001. — (Lebanon Invest)
