Lebanon's economy is expected to grow by seven to eight percent this year, the Central Bank governor said on Thursday.
"It is expected that real (economic) growth will reach seven to eight percent in 2010," Riad Salameh said at the start of the 18th Arab Economic Forum, which 25 countries are attending.
The liquidity that Lebanese banks have enjoyed "has boosted confidence and had a positive impact on growth," Salameh added.
Lebanese banks -- around 60 in total -- have assets worth some three times gross domestic product. That, together with their conservative policies, has allowed them to largely avoid the global economic crisis.
Salameh said he expects bank deposits, which currently stand at 105 billion dollars (85 billion euros), to rise by 10 percent in 2010. With inflation at around 4.5 percent, this means a net increase of between four and five percent, he added.
Salameh told AFP in January that bank deposits increased by 22 percent in 2009, while bank profits increased between nine and 10 percent and credit 16 percent. But despite the resilience of its banking sector, Lebanon's national debt tops 50 billion dollars (some 153 percent of GDP), accumulated since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
The International Monetary Fund has urged Lebanon to take steps to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio, raise revenues by reviewing current electricity tariffs, and redirect expenditures.
[Source: Al-ManarTV]
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