some guy in lebanon

Daily Star’s Nick Kimbrell Reports on the state of the Lebanese economy, given the current global economic volitility:

Lebanon's Premier English Newspaper

BEIRUT: The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) senior resident representative to Lebanon praised the country’s central bank late Tuesday, saying the banking sector had few direct links to the current financial crisis and that Lebanon would likely prove more resilient than other emerging markets.

“The central bank did an excellent job in not exposing [itself] to risky products,” Edward H. Gardner said during a presentation at the InterContinental Phoenicia Hotel which was hosted by the Lebanese Dutch Business Association.

“The direct financial links are not there,” the IMF representative said while discussing the extent of the global credit crisis and its potential effects on Lebanon’s banking sector.

Gardner said Lebanese banks’ higher-than-average liquidity and the central bank’s leadership could spare the country from the larger effects of the economic crisis that has been ravaging the US, European, and Asian markets.

However, he also noted that if booming Gulf economies were hit hard by the current crisis, Lebanon could feel the indirect effects due to its heavy reliance on jobs, remittances and foreign direct investment from oil-rich Gulf states.

Moreover, he noted the unpredictable nature of economic crises. “Fundamentally sound institutions are not immune from panic attacks,” he said.

Last week the US Congress agreed to a massive $700 billion bailout plan in an effort to stabilize beleaguered US banks and reassure investors, and Wednesday London initiated a similar albeit smaller rescue package.

Although Gardner addressed the global financial crisis, the lion’s share of his speech was devoted to IMF aid to Lebanon and a description of the structural workings of the quota-based international lending body.

Read the full article here: http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=1&article_ID=96602&categ_id=3