Net private wealth in Lebanon at $232.2B

BEIRUT: The total net wealth of Lebanese citizens has increased by 4.6 percent to $232.2 billion at the end of June 2019 compared to the same period of last year, according to the estimates of Global investment bank Credit Suisse.

“Lebanon’s total private net wealth stood at $133.4 billion at the end of 2010, regressed to $120.8 billion at end-2011, and has been gradually rising ever since. The aggregate net wealth of Lebanese citizens at the end of June 2019 was the 65th highest among 171 countries and jurisdictions, and the ninth highest among 19 Arab countries. Also, Lebanon had the 19th highest aggregate net wealth among 50 upper middleincome countries included in the survey,” the report which was published by Byblos Bank’s Lebanon This Week.

Credit Suisse defines a country’s net wealth as the sum of its population’s marketable value of financial and nonfinancial assets less its aggregate personal debt, with nonfinancial assets consisting mainly of real estate holdings.

It excludes a country’s stock of human capital as well as its stock of public assets and liabilities, such as the public debt. The investment bank provided annual data for the period between 2000 and 2017, and semiannual figures for 2018 and 2019.

“Globally, Lebanon’s net wealth was higher than the wealth of Croatia ($209.1 billion), Ecuador ($205.3 billion) and Slovenia ($205.2 billion), and lower than the wealth of Algeria ($252.2 billion), Kenya ($248.5 billion) and Bulgaria ($243.2 billion),” the report explained.

Also, Lebanon’s net wealth was higher than the net wealth of Ecuador, Serbia ($170.3 billion) and Jordan ($145.9 billion), and lower than the net wealth of Sri Lanka ($297.2 billion), Algeria and Bulgaria among UMICs.

“Regionally, it was higher than the net wealth of Oman ($156.2 billion), Jordan, Tunisia ($112.4 billion), Bahrain ($106.2 billion), Libya ($81.2 billion), Yemen ($71.8 billion), Syria ($21.1 billion), Sudan ($10.9 billion), Mauritania ($5.5 billion) and Djibouti ($1.7 billion),” the report said.

It added that Lebanon’s net wealth accounted for 0.1 percent of the global net wealth, for 0.3 percent of the UMICs’ aggregate net wealth and for 3.9 percent of the Arab region’s net wealth at endJune 2019.

American citizens had the world’s highest aggregate net wealth at $106 trillion, while citizens of Saudi Arabia accumulated $1.56 trillion as at the end of June 2019, highest in the Arab world. –

The report said that Lebanon’s net wealth accounted for 0.1 percent of the global net wealth.