Impact of the determinants of foreign aid for Syrian refugees on the Lebanese economy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between foreign aid for Syrian refugees received in Lebanon and some economic factors such as inflation, tourism, GDP per capita, GDP growth rate, imports, exports, net investment and electricity consumption in order to see the impact that these factors have on foreign aid. In addition, the paper shows how the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon affected its economy. The study includes monthly data from 2011, the start of the Syrian influx into Lebanon, till 2015. The data was tested using econometrics by three tests which are multicollinearity test, granger cause causality test, and three regression analysis tests. Some of the findings approve with what was previously stated in literature that the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon causes inflation and pressure on Lebanese resources, while other findings show that some of the economic factors have a positive relationship with foreign aid and other factors have an inverse relationship. The novelty of the paper is in studying and analyzing the relationship between foreign aid for Syrian refugees received in Lebanon and some economic factors.