`Lebanon lost $7.5 billion due to Syrian crisis`

Beirut: A World Bank report estimated economic losses to Lebanon resulting from the Syrian crisis since 2011 to be around $7.5 billion, a Lebanese daily reported Thursday. Earlier, the Lebanese government asked the World Bank to prepare a report concerning the Syrian crisis` impact on its economy, Xinhua reported citing a report by An-Nahar. The report came ahead of a meeting of the international donors for Lebanon Sep 25 in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. "The amount is equivalent to the amount Lebanon is going to ask from the international community in order to make up its losses," the report said. The report also said the total number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is expected to reach 1.3 million by the end of 2013 and jump to 1.6 million by the end of 2014 which is about 37 percent of Lebanon`s total population.

The UN says there are over 739,000 registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon, while the Lebanese authorities put the number at 1.3 million. IANS