Lebanon profile

(Last updated: 31 Mar 2009)

Current business situation

Exporters should be aware that Australia maintains United Nations Security Council sanctions in respect of Lebanon. These sanctions require Australian organisations and individuals to comply with a range of measures and, in general, also apply extraterritorially to Australian nationals overseas.

Sanctions may include export and import restrictions, prohibitions of technical assistance, training and financing, travel sanctions, and financial sanctions against specific persons and entities.

See the following Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website for more information about sanctions: www.dfat.gov.au/un/unsc_sanctions/unsc_sanctions_whatare.html.

For information about United Nations sanctions currently in force, please see: www.dfat.gov.au/un/unsc_sanctions/index.html. 

For information about the operation of the defence and strategic goods export control regime, please see: www.defence.gov.au/strategy/dtcc.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) provides advice for business travellers and tourists going to Lebanon. This is regularly updated, and should be checked before planning travel.

Exporters with existing or potential sales orders from Lebanon should take immediate steps to assess the likelihood of rejection of shipments or potential difficulties associated with current and/or future sales. Exporters should seek specific advice from their agents or importers in Lebanon.

Australians planning to travel to, or who are currently travelling in the Middle East, are urged to exercise care and monitor developments through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) current general travel advice and bulletins.

Country facts

Economic climate

Lebanon has a free-market economy and a strong laissez-faire commercial tradition. There are no restrictions on foreign exchange or capital movement, and bank secrecy is strictly enforced.

Lebanon has adopted a law to combat money laundering. There are practically no restrictions on foreign investment; which means it is a relatively easy place to conduct business, especially with Australia due to the large community linkage.

Within this business environment, Lebanon is a country that has:

• Reconstructed its infrastructure, with 80 per cent of the basic infrastructure rehabilitated using the best technologies.
• Revised basically most of its business laws and regulations.
• A reputable banking sector with high financial standing, strictly regulated by the Central Bank.
• Initiated a process of domestic capital market development and accessed frequently international markets.

For the latest key economic indicators and statistics, please see the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade country economic fact sheet.

Political climate

In addition to its indigenous political groupings, Lebanon contains branches of many other political parties of the Arab world. These cover the political spectrum from far left to far right, from totally secular to wholly religious and often are associated with a particular religion or geographic region. Palestinian refugees, numbering about 400,000 and predominantly Muslim, constitute an important and sensitive minority.

Lebanese political parties are generally vehicles for powerful leaders whose followers are often of the same religious sect. The interplay for position and power among these leaders and groups produces a political tapestry of extraordinary complexity.

In the past, this system worked to produce a viable democracy. Recent events, however, have upset the delicate Muslim-Christian balance and resulted in a tendency for Christians and Muslims to group themselves for safety into distinct zones. All factions have called for a reform of the political system.

Some Christians favour political and administrative decentralisation of the government, with separate Muslim and Christian sectors operating within the framework of a confederation. Muslims, for the most part, prefer a unified, central government with an enhanced share of power for themselves commensurate with their percentage of the population. The reforms of the Taif agreement moved in this latter direction.

Trade relations and statistics

Please see the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade country economic fact sheet for key trade statistics.