In its Investment Policy Review of Lebanon (IPR), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), at the request of the Lebanese government, assessed the country's investment regulatory framework to identify key constraints that limit Lebanon's investment potential, and to provide recommendations to address them. It reviewed the existing legal and institutional frameworks for foreign direct investments (FDI), as well as several areas of the policy framework that affect local and foreign investors, including the establishment and liquidation of companies, taxation, labor, competition, governance, and the environment.  

In its assessment of the investment legal framework, the UNCTAD indicated that there are no restrictions on the transfer of capital, profits and dividends to and from Lebanon. It noted that authorities have adopted in recent years a set of laws to comply with the MENA-Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. However, it said that several restrictions to FDI exist in Lebanon, while these restrictions are not regularly reviewed and are not clearly specified in a single list. It noted that Lebanon's Investment Law 360 is not comprehensive, while some sectors, such as fixed line telephony and energy transmission, are closed to domestic and foreign investors. Also, it said that the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL), which is in charge of investment promotion and facilitation, has a concurrent regulatory role that is not in line with good practices. In this regard, the UNCTAD's short-term recommendations consist of publishing an exhaustive list of restrictions to FDI in an official document; and of separating within IDAL the staff responsible for investment promotion and for administering incentives. Its medium-term recommendations consist of reevaluating the need for some of the current investment restrictions as part of the ongoing revision of the Lebanese Commercial Code. It also asked authorities to introduce a reference for non-discrimination or national treatment in domestic legislation in order to grant the core standards of treatment and protection to foreign investors. It said that its longer-term recommendation is for authorities to revise the current investment law in order to formally shift the regulatory functions away from IDAL.    

In parallel, the UNCTAD indicated that the establishment of a business in Lebanon is cumbersome and costly due to a series of requirements and the lack of online services, while business liquidation is burdensome and lengthy. As such, it encouraged authorities to introduce an online one-stop-shop service to simplify the processes of establishing and liquidating a business. Also, the UNCTAD's short-term recommendations consist of conducting a complete review of existing procedures to establish or liquidate a business, and to assess if they are legally required or were introduced through practice. It also called on authorities to adopt the draft law on bankruptcy and insolvency practitioners in order to modernize their frameworks. Further, it encouraged the government to ratify the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, in order to facilitate the registration of foreign branches and representative offices in the country and reduce the related paperworks and red tape. Over the medium term, the UNCTAD recommended the establishment of e-registration procedures by interconnecting governmental services, and called on authorities to publish the list of required steps to establish a business and make it legally binding.

Figures released by Banque du Liban show that the inflows of expatriates' remittances to Lebanon totaled $1.85bn in the first quarter of 2018, up by 8.8% from $1.7bn in the previous quarter, and compared to $1.847bn in the first quarter of 2017. The figures include workers' remittances and the compensation of employees, according to the World Bank's definition of remittances. 

Remittance inflows to Lebanon in the first three months of 2018 reached their third highest level for the first quarter of a year between 2002 and 2018. Remittance inflows to the country averaged $1.78bn during the first quarter of each year between 2008 and 2018, and reached a high of $1.86bn in the first three months of 2009. Banque du Liban's figures are the only official data on remittance flows to and from Lebanon. 

In parallel, remittance outflows from Lebanon amounted to $1.2bn in the first quarter of 2018, nearly unchanged from the previous quarter, and up by 10.7% from $1.1bn in the first quarter of 2017. They averaged $1.03bn during the first quarter of each year between 2008 and 2018, and reached a high of $1.3bn in the first three months of 2013. As such, net remittance inflows to Lebanon totaled $677.4m in the first quarter of 2018, constituting a rise of 28.1% from $528.7m in the previous quarter, but a decrease of 14.1% from $788.2m in the first quarter of 2017.

In parallel, the World Bank estimated expatriates' remittance inflows to Lebanon at $7.77bn in 2018. The World Bank's estimates are based on the official figures from BdL, which means that the Bank will likely update its estimate for 2018 to align it with BdL figures. Lebanon will be the 15th largest recipient of remittances among developing countries, the fifth largest recipient among 50 upper middle income countries (UMICs), and the second largest among 16 Arab countries. Further, expatriates' remittances to Lebanon will be equivalent to 14.5% of GDP in 2018, which constitutes the 19th highest such ratio in the world and among developing countries, the sixth highest ratio among UMICs, as well as the third highest among Arab countries behind only Yemen (24.2% of GDP) and Palestine (21.3% of GDP).

Figures released by Banque du Liban indicate that the value of letters of credit (LCs) opened to finance imports to Lebanon totaled $4.9bn in the first nine months of 2018, constituting an increase of 11.8% from $4.4bn in the same period of 2017. Further, utilized credits for imports reached $4.4bn in the first nine months of the year, down by 5.9% from $4.6bn in the same period of 2017, and accounted for 88.4% of opened LCs for imports in the first nine months of 2018. Also, outstanding import credits stood at $1.13bn at the end of September 2018 compared to $1.04bn at end-September 2017. In addition, the aggregate value of inward bills for collection reached $771.4m in the first nine months of the year, constituting a decline of 26.7% from $1.05bn in the first nine months of 2017. The outstanding value of inward bills for collection reached $56.8m at the end of September 2018 relative to $70.4m at end-September 2017.

In parallel, the value of documentary letters of credit opened to finance exports from Lebanon reached $2.6bn in the first nine months of 2018, up by 2.8% from $2.52bn in the same period of 2017. Further, utilized credits for exports reached $2.05bn in the covered period, up by 1.4% from $2bn of used credits in the first nine months of 2017, and accounted for 79% of opened LCs for exports in the first nine months of 2018. Also, outstanding export credits stood at $1.1bn at the end of September 2018 compared to $890.1m at end-September 2017. In addition, the aggregate value of outward bills for collection amounted to $1.07bn in the first nine months of the year, constituting an increase of 6.3% from $1bn in the same period of 2017. The outstanding value of outward bills for collection reached $405.5m at the end of September 2018 relative to $402.8m at end-September 2017.