The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has said that it expected Lebanon’s economy to decline further in 2024 because of geopolitical turmoil, AFP reports.

Lebanon’s economy will contract by one per cent in 2024, the EBRD predicted, heavily revising down its estimation made in May that the struggling economy would grow slightly.

“Any escalation will certainly weigh down on growth,” Beata Javorcik, the EBRD’s chief economist told AFP.

The country, already facing difficult economic conditions and sky-high inflation, has lost more than 40pc of its GDP since 2018, the bank said in a report.

It added that “political impasse and stagnant progress on critical reforms continued to hold back recovery”.