Lebanon Plans Stimulus as Salameh Sees Risk of Zero Growth

posted on: Aug 25, 2015

Lebanon’s central bank is planning a stimulus package of at least $1 billion next year to revive an economy rattled by political unrest and the civil war in neighboring Syria, Governor Riad Salameh said.

Economic growth in the most indebted Arab country will likely range between zero and 1 percent this year, the slowest pace since at least 2011, Salameh told Bloomberg on Monday. The planned stimulus, which he said could rise to as much as $1.5 billion, brings the total of the central bank’s assistance programs to about $5 billion since 2013.

Beset by sectarian crises and regional proxy conflicts, Lebanon has been without a head of state since President Michel Suleiman’s term expired in May 2014 because lawmakers can’t agree on a successor. Parliament hasn’t convened in months, and weekend protests over the government’s inability to deal with a growing garbage disposal problem rocked central Beirut.

Source: www.bloomberg.com