Syria's war costs Lebanon billions of dollars

A World Bank report has said spillover from the Syrian war has cost Lebanon billions of dollars, deeply damaged its economy and harshly strained social services such as health and education.

The new report, published on the website of Lebanese daily al-Safir on Thursday, was prepared for a meeting during the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week to draw donor aid for Lebanon.

 It said the war has sent nearly one million refugees pouring into Lebanon from neighbouring Syria so far. Spillover costs will shave nearly 3 percentage points off gross domestic product growth per year between 2012 and 2014, according to the assessment.

It will double unemployment to more than 20 percent and push about 170,000 Lebanese into poverty on top of 1 million currently in poverty.