Lebanon’s bright future beyond the headlines

As the former minister of telecommunications in the Lebanese government, no one knows better than I that Lebanon faces intense pressures. The terrible human toll from Syria’s five-year civil war has at times threatened to overwhelm our small country. The influx of refugees is on a scale with which few countries could cope. One million Syrian asylum-seekers were received last year by the entire European Union, with a population of 500m. This is fewer than the number of Syrians accepted by Lebanon alone, with a population of just 5m.

Lebanon successfully braved the 2007-08 economic crisis, with stunning growth of around 8.5 per cent. Prudent financial regulation – including banning subprime lending – protected it from the worst of the storms. Now the fallout from its regional neighbours has once again put a strain on the economy.