Lebanese banks have long operated in a different category from the real Lebanese economy, with deposits and accounts experiencing year-on-year growth as the country’s general economic outlook was, at best, far from dynamic. The country’s recent turbulence has done nothing to change this scenario. As Walid Raphael, deputy general manager of Banque Libano-Francaise, pointed out, there was negligible negative activity at Lebanese banks in May, and during 2006’s July War, only 3.5% of the money in Lebanese bank accounts were transferred abroad. “All the money came back before the end of the year,” he added. Likewise, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 only dented the sector’s books by 2.5% in outside transfers. Contrasted to some Saudi Arabian banks during the Gulf War, where up to 30% of assets were withdrawn, Lebanese banks know how to weather a storm. “At each crisis we had an outflow of
