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Until the economy was almost completely destroyed by the civil strife that rent the country from 1975 to 1990, Lebanon was long the distribution center for the Middle East, and commerce was its major industry. Beirut, a free port, was the region's financial and commercial hub. Throughout the 1980s the commercial and industrial life of Lebanon was in severe disarray, but by the 1990s the economy had at least partially revived. Banking, insurance, food processing, and the manufacture of textiles, cement, chemicals, and metal products are now important. Oil refining is also an important industry. Other significant present-day sources of income are remittances from Lebanese working abroad and international aid. The illicit narcotics trade (opium, hashish, heroin) also has a considerable impact on the economy.
Farm products contribute only a small portion of the GDP. The main crops are citrus fruits, vegetables, olives, tobacco, and grapes. Sheep and goats are raised. Lebanon has few minerals. Not many of the famed cedars remain, although oak and pine are exploited. Tourism decreased dramatically with the onset of Lebanon's political unrest and has not yet recovered.
The annual cost of Lebanon's imports is much greater than its earnings from exports. The country exports paper and paper products, foodstuffs, textiles, jewelry, metals, electrical equipment, and chemicals, largely to other Arab countries. Imports include machinery and transport equipment, grain and other foodstuffs, consumer goods, machinery, and fuels, chiefly from Italy, the United States, Germany, and France.
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