Press Release

Decisive Action and Change Needed to Reform and Rebuild a Better Lebanon

30 August 2020

A new damage and needs assessment following the August 4 explosion that rocked the city of Beirut calls for building back a better Lebanon based on the principles of transparency, inclusion and accountability to meet the demands and aspirations of the Lebanese people.
To help guide the urgently needed global response, the World Bank Group (WBG), in cooperation with the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) conducted a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA), in close partnership with Lebanese ministries, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders.

According to the RDNA’s preliminary estimates, the explosion caused between US$3.8 and US$4.6 billion in damage to physical stock, while losses including changes in economic flows as a result of the decline in the output of the economic sectors are estimated to be in the range of US$2.9 and US$3.5 billion. The most severely affected sectors are housing, transport and tangible and intangible cultural assets (including religious and archeological sites, national monuments, theaters, archives, libraries, monuments).

Public sector reconstruction and recovery needs for this year and the next are estimated in the range of US$1.8 and US$2.2 billion, with between US$605 and US$760 million needed in the immediate term until December 2020, and between US$1.18 and US$1.46 billion in the short term for the year 2021. The

transport sector’s needs are the highest, followed by culture and housing.

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English