The Lebanon Economic Monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Lebanon. It places them in a longer-term and global context, and assesses the implications of these developments and other changes in policy on the outlook for Lebanon. Lebanon continues to be impacted by the domestic political stalemate and regional turmoil, particularly along its border with Syria. Economic activity picked up in the second half of 2014. Stronger economic performance and lower oil prices pushed real GDP growth to an estimated 2.0 percent in 2014, compared to 0.9 percent in 2013. One-off cosmetic and unsustainable measures rather than policy actions helped improve the fiscal balance in 2014. We estimate the overall fiscal deficit to have declined by 2.3 percentage points. Declining imports lead an improvement in the current account balance. In 2014, a fall in merchandize imports induced a 4.4 pp reduction in the current account deficit to a still-elevated 22.2 percent of GDP. This trend is projected to continue in 2015 helped by falling oil prices and a depreciating euro, Headline inflation plummeted from 2.7 percent in 2013 to 1.9 percent in 2014 and is expected to remain tempered over the medium term. Lebanon s economy continues to be exposed to external shocks. The border with Syria is increasingly menacing as coordinated attacks by ISIS and Al Nusra are being launched more frequently from their bases in Syria. Inefficiencies in power generation impose sizable macroeconomic costs on Lebanon. The Lebanese electricity sector has been underperforming for decades with considerable socio-economic costs. The macroeconomic impact has been massive.
Backgrounds and Aims: Using Geographical Information System (GIS) can decreases the burden of road traffic injuries effectively by identification of hot spot to modification in hazardous areas. The aim of the study was determining geographical distribution of human risk factors associated with road traffic injuries by using Geographical Information System (GIS) in Iran. Materials and Methods: The national database of road traffic injuries registered by the Iranian traffic Police (Rahvar NAJA) was used. The human risk factors were investigated by recognition of the hazardous points and geographical distribution of associated risk factors. The Hot Spot Analysis and Map clustering approaches were employed to meet the objectives. Results: The mean age of injured subjects was 34 years and the most affected age group was 20-39 years. Death and injury occurrence within out of cities ways were 0.3 % and 28% respectively. Geographical distribution of risk factors also showed that roads of Northern provinces i.e. (Gilaan and Mazandaran) were the hazardous rising as well as Qazvin to Rasht and Qom to Tehran roads. Sistan and Balochestan Provinces and Tehran had the highest (4.8%) and the lowest (0.1%) rates of road traffic injuries leading to death in the country. Conclusions: Northern provinces and its leading axes by hazardous rising and Sistan and Balochestan province with fatal injuries need to identify the cause of injuries' and, if necessary, more tighten regulations and more controls by the traffic police must be applied. REFERENCESPeden M, Scurfield R, Sleet D, Mohan D Hyder A A, Jarawan E . (2004).World report on road traffic injury prevention: World Health Organization Geneva. 2004.Kopits E, Cropper M. Traffic fatalities and economic growth. Accid Anal Prev 2005;37(1): 169-78.Channa R, Jaffrani H A, Khan A J, Hasan T, Razzak J A. 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The Lebanon Economic Monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Lebanon. It places them in a longer-term and global context, and assesses the implications of these developments and other changes in policy on the outlook for Lebanon. Its coverage ranges from the macro-economy to financial markets to indicators of human welfare and development. It is intended for a wide audience, including policy makers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Lebanon.
