Financial opportunities for both the Lebanese Economy and Palestinian Refugees
This is the final part of four short reviews from a consolidated report by Oussama Baher, investigating the lack of financial and social inclusion for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and advocating that the rewards for financial inclusion of refugees outweigh the disadvantages any government may fear.
Despite the negative picture surrounding the Palestinian case in Lebanon, Lebanese lawmakers are still sitting on a great financial opportunity they could benefit from if they improved their policies in social and financial inclusion. As reported in the previous chapter, financial and economic integrations must go hand in hand for these benefits to materialise. When done properly, these reforms can go as far as helping Lebanon recover from its economic and banking crisis. Numerous studies have shown that host countries can benefit from the successful integration of migrants and refugees:
The IMF provides evidence that the integration of migrants can increase productivity levels (GDP per capita) of both high and low skilled workers. In simple terms, more integration of refugees can increase the average income of a local citizen.
Other cases also show that allowing refugees to integrate will bring positive impacts on the country’s macroeconomics through an improved labour market and higher tax revenues.
Migrants and refugees can also boost the size of the population in country already at working-age, improve standards with the arrival of skilled labour, and contribute to the host country's innovative capabilities.
In a case study based on Uganda’s integration of Sudanese refugees, results show that with proper use of foreign financial aid and efficient inclusion of refugees, host communities experienced substantial improvements in local development, specifically access to education, health care, and roads. On average, Uganda received $1.6 billion yearly as foreign aid since 2000, and its population is about 46 million (an equivalent to $41 per citizen). Lebanon has a population of 6.4 million and has received on average $758 million yearly since the year 2000 (an equivalent to $101 per citizen). Yet, the benefits from this foreign aid can hardly be noticed in Lebanon given the mismanagement of public services and corruption, among other factors.
The evidence provided in this report has been compiled in an era of increased mass mobility and refugee influxes to host countries following conflict and forced misplacements. This report acknowledges that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all cases of refugees around the world, and that each context presents a different kind of complexity regarding the treatment of refugees. For example, some governments may decide to integrate on a temporary basis, conditional to the situation at the refugees’ point of origin. In the case of Uganda, a resolution of the Sudanese civil war may lead to the return of Sudanese refugees to their home country. In the case of the European nations, a settlement scheme is in place to provide asylum seekers with a path to permanent residency.
The case of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon is unique, however, and this report therefore presents a solution required for contexts where the prospects of return are few. Their situation dates back to the 1940s with little hope of any resolution in the near future in view of the current Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Such a stalemate should give the Lebanese side a greater motivation to properly integrate the Palestinians, benefit from their existence on the Lebanese soil and improve their living standards as documented above. The evidence is clear in support of a win-win solution as we have presented. This doesn’t mean that the Lebanese government cannot make integration of refugees conditional to any future resolution, but not doing so will be to their detriment.