Economic stimulus en route

Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank, is preparing an economic stimulus to help the struggling Lebanese economy, which is under pressure from the ongoing unrest in Syria, BDL Governor Riad Salameh said. Incentives for loans directed at the housing, productive and renewable energy sectors were on the agenda with further details to be announced at the end of the year. Salameh says he expects gross domestic product growth in Lebanon to stand at 2 percent, above Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi’s forecast of a 1 to 1.5 percent growth. The governor expects inflation to reach 6 percent in 2012 and deposit growth to stand at 7 percent, mainly driven by domestic deposits. For the first nine months of 2012, total deposits in the banking sector grew by 5.4 percent. First Iraqi IPO since Saddam The first initial public offering of an Iraqi company on the country’s stock exchange since the