Lebanon is experiencing the impact of multiple growth shocks, including a recent spike in COVID-19 cases and an explosion that killed over 200 people and destroyed Beirut Port, warehouses storing food and other vital resources, and vast residential and business areas. According to an UN report, extreme poverty has registered a threefold increase from 8% in 2019 to 23% in 2020. The headcount poverty rate is expected to jump from 28 per cent in 2019 to 55 per cent in May 2020. t. This brings the total number of poor among the Lebanese population to 1.1 million and 2.7 million for the lower and the upper poverty lines, respectively.
