Protective Measures And Future Goals

摘要

Ghazi Kraytem, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, believes that the country will fare better than most in coping with the global downturn, thanks to the strict controls imposed by its central bank and the fact that the Lebanese are used to coping with economic and political problems.rn"It would be naive to maintain that the unfolding global financial crisis will not affect Lebanon in any way," he says.rnHe adds, however, that a number of factors are converging to mitigate the impact: "These include tight controls imposed on banks and financial institutions; a very conservative credit policy resulting in leverages being kept quite low, as far as balance sheets are concerned; and an exaggerated preference for high liquidity and underdeveloped local capital markets."