Providing an analysis of the global situation in mid-2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, is a difficult task. The outbreak has exerted tremendous pressure on the global economy, the scale of which is still unclear.

Public budgets in the developing countries of the region are pressed due to rising external debt and debt service, which risks expenditure on climate action and for achieving the SDGs. The adverse impact of COVID-19 has exacerbated the fiscal pressures further.

The workshop aimed at conducting training for Lebanon’s Central Administration of Statistics on the use of the ICP toolkit for data entry and data validation.

Within the framework of the activities carried out by the Economic Statistics Section at ESCWA to enhance the capabilities of member states to monitor sustainable development goals, the ESCWA Statistics Division is organizing a workshop on Supply and Use Tables.