1 with elementary education

_#_Elections:

National Assembly--elections should be held every four years
but security conditions have prevented elections since May 1972

_#_Communists: the Lebanese Communist Party was legalized in 1970;
members and sympathizers estimated at 2,000-3,000

_#_Member of: ABEDA, ACCT, AFESD, AL, AMF, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-24,
G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO,
INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OIC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Nassib S. LAHOUD;
Chancery at 2560 28th Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202)
939-6300; there are Lebanese Consulates General in Detroit, New York, and
Los Angeles;

US--Ambassador Ryan C. CROCKER; Embassy at Antelias, Beirut
(mailing address is P. O. Box 70-840, Beirut, and FPO New York 09530);
telephone [961] 417774 or 415802, 415803, 402200, 403300

_#_Flag: three horizontal bands of red (top), white (double width),
and red with a green and brown cedar tree centered in the white band

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: Since 1975 civil war has seriously damaged Lebanon's
economic infrastructure, disrupted economic activity, and all but ended
Lebanon's position as a Middle Eastern entrepot and banking hub.
Following October 1990, however, a tentative peace has enabled the
central government to begin restoring control in Beirut, collect taxes,
and regain access to key port and government facilities. The battered
economy has also been propped up by a financially sound banking system
and resilient small- and medium-scale manufacturers. Family remittances,
foreign financial support to political factions, the narcotics trade, and
international emergency aid are main sources of foreign exchange.
Economic prospects for 1991 have brightened, particularly if the
Syrian-backed government is able to maintain law and order and
reestablish business confidence. Rebuilding war-ravaged Beirut is likely
to provide a major stimulus to the Lebanese economy in 1991.

_#_GDP: $3.3 billion, per capita $1,000; real growth rate - 15%
(1990 est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 100% (1990 est.)

_#_Unemployment rate: 35% (1990 est.)

_#_Budget: revenues $120 million; expenditures $1.0 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA (1990 est.)

_#_Exports: $1.0 billion (f.o.b., 1989 est.);

commodities--agricultural pr