Economy of Zahle

and mulberry orchards dot the town's upper hillsides, while potatoes and leafy vegetables are cultivated in the plain. Livestock is also an important resource, with trout fisheries on the upper course of the Berdawni river and poultry farms on the surrounding hills. The Civil War struck a blow to local agriculture, when the Syrian army closed off many vineyards, transforming them into military areas, and the town's siege cut it off from potential markets.

Zahlé saw at a time a prosperous commercial activity due to its location midway between Beirut and Damascus. Paradoxically, it regained some of that activity during the Civil War, when the growing instability in Beirut led to a decentralization of economy. Furthermore, taxation was nonexistent due to the collapse of State authority, which Zahlé took advantage of to expand its industrial and commercial sectors. The main industrial area lies to the Southeast, with the chief sectors being paper mills, chemicals, plastics, canning and food processing.

A number of companies and state bodies have their headquarters for the Beqaa region in Zahlé, including the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce.