Lebanese banks are the life raft of the national economy. While this raft is astoundingly large in comparison to the real economy, with banking sector assets surpassing the real economy by a factor of four, the existential role and solidity of banking make it the focus of attention in national economic and policy debates. Many reports and studies, and an exponential number of rumors, have increasingly questioned if and how the Lebanese banking sector can keep functioning so well. Executive sat down with Freddie Baz, chief strategist and member of the board of Lebanon’s largest bank, Bank Audi, to see how the economy looks from the top of the banking industry. E Do I understand correctly that you believe the perspectives presented in many of the alarming economic reports that have been circulated in Lebanon in recent months have somehow been tainted—flavored, for example, by ulterior motives
