Figures released by Banque du Liban (BdL) show that the inflows of expatriates' remittances to Lebanon totaled $3.1bn in the first half of 2020, constituting a decrease of 20% from $3.9bn in the same period of 2019 and a decline of 12% from $3.5bn in the second half of 2019. Remittance inflows in the first half of 2020 reached their lowest semi-annual level since 2007, compared to a semi-annual average of $3.6bn in the 2008-2020 period. The figures include workers' remittances and the compensation of employees, according to the World Bank's definition of remittances. Banque du Liban's figures are the only official data on remittance flows to and from Lebanon. 

Remittance inflows to Lebanon reached $1.5bn and $1.6bn in the first and second quarters of 2020, respectively, constituting declines of 19.3% and 20.8%, respectively, from the same quarters of the previous year. The figures of the first and second quarters of 2020 constitute their lowest and second-lowest quarterly levels since the fourth quarter of 2007.

In parallel, remittance outflows from Lebanon amounted to $1.6bn in the first half of 2020, and decreased by 32% from $2.4bn in the first half of 2019 and by 18.8% from $2bn in the second half of 2019. Remittance outflows in the first half of the year reached their fourth lowest semi-annual level since BdL started publishing detailed figures about the balance of payments in 2002. They posted a semi-annual average of $2.2bn between 2008 and 2020. Remittance outflows totaled $847.8m and $751.8m in the first and second quarters of 2020, respectively, representing decreases of 29% and 36%, respectively, from the same quarters of the preceding year. The figures of the first and second quarters of 2020 reached their lowest levels since the third quarter of 2007.

As such, net remittance inflows to Lebanon totaled $1.5bn in the first half of 2020, constituting a decline of 0.8% from $1.51bn in the first half of 2019 and a decrease of 3.7% from $1.6bn in the second half of 2019. But they represented an increase of 31.2% from the semi-annual average of $1.1bn during the 2017-18 period. Net remittance flows posted a semi-annual average of $1.3bn between 2008 and 2020.