SME sector

• SMEs, or enterprises with less than 200 people, employ 82% of the Lebanese workforce. 
• Small-scale manufacturing accounts for nearly 70% of all Lebanese SME activity.

Economy

• Lebanon’s economy is forecast to continue growing with estimates of 8 per cent for 2009 and 8.5 per cent for 2010. To put those figures into some perspective the growth rate for 2007 was 3.5 per cent. 
• The service sector is responsible for more than 76% of all Lebanon’s GDP, with financial services the predominant contributor.
• The tourism sector is rebounding, with a 39% increase in visitor numbers from 2008 to 2009.

Society

• Lebanon is home to three universities in the top 30 in the whole Middle East region, with the American University of Beirut considered the sixth best.