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UNDP: Overall Economic Losses Worth $15 Billion
Lebanon's 15-year economic and social recovery from civil war was wiped out in the recent Israeli offensive against Hizbullah, the UN development agency said Tuesday.
"The damage is such that the last 15 years of work on reconstruction and rehabilitation, following the previous problems that Lebanon experienced, are now annihilated," said Jean Fabre, a spokesman for the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Yediot Aharonot: Lebanon War Cost Israel $5.7 Billion
The cost of the month-old war in Lebanon on Israel's economy is estimated at nearly 5.7 billion dollars, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily reported Tuesday.
The total cost represents 10 percent of the state budget or around half of the defense budget, the newspaper said.
UNDP: Overall Economic Losses Worth $15 Billion
Lebanon's 15-year economic and social recovery from civil war was wiped out in the recent Israeli offensive against Hizbullah, the UN development agency said Tuesday.
"The damage is such that the last 15 years of work on reconstruction and rehabilitation, following the previous problems that Lebanon experienced, are now annihilated," said Jean Fabre, a spokesman for the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Lebanon's relatively healthy progress towards the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which cover a range of social and economic targets, "have been brought back to zero," he told journalists.
"Fifteen years of work have been wiped out in a month."
Fabre estimated that overall economic losses for Lebanon from the month-long conflict between Israel and Hizbullah totaled "at least 15 billion dollars, if not more".
Lebanese authorities estimated last week that direct structural damage inflicted by the offensive reached 3.6 billion dollars, including 15,000 housing units, 80 bridges and 94 roads destroyed or damaged.
About 35,000 homes and businesses were destroyed in the conflict, while a quarter of the country's road bridges or flyovers were shattered, according to the UNDP's initial estimate.
UN agencies said it would take weeks to assess the full extent of the damage in south Lebanon and southern Beirut.
The need for clean water and sanitation, to make safe unexploded munitions and to build shelters are the most urgent issues, aid agencies said Tuesday.(AFP)
Beirut, 22 Aug 06, 14:26
Yediot Aharonot: Lebanon War Cost Israel $5.7 Billion
The cost of the month-old war in Lebanon on Israel's economy is estimated at nearly 5.7 billion dollars, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily reported Tuesday.
The total cost represents 10 percent of the state budget or around half of the defense budget, the newspaper said.
Official estimates put the cost of the massive air, sea and land operation launched after the July 12 Hizbullah border attack at around 2.3 billion dollars.
The damage caused by the 3,970 rockets fired into northern Israel during the 33 days of conflict tops 1.3 billion dollars. An estimated 12,000 homes were demolished or damaged and 750,000 trees burned.
The drop in national production is also estimated at 1.3 billion, the cost of aid transfers to the local authorities in northern Israel at around half a billion, and the damage to nature at 220 million dollars.
The newspaper warned that the impact of the war on Israel's economic growth -- which stood at six percent last year -- could eventually turn out to be higher and raise the total bill to almost seven billion dollars.
According to the newspaper, 1,600 cars, 600 businesses and 100 factories were also damaged by Hizbullah rockets.(AFP)
Beirut, 15 Aug 06, 14:03
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