With praise from international media raining in for his steadiness at Lebanon’s financial helm, Executive sat down with Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to discuss the current and future state of Lebanese Banks. E As a foil to the rest of the world, Lebanese banks have actually struggled to find profitable uses for their excess liquidity, especially in local currency. Do you believe that the banks have enough tools to keep this liquidity from becoming a burden? Well, as you know, the amounts that came to the banking sector after the collapse of Lehman [Brothers], and between September 2008 and July 2009, were very large amounts compared to the size of deposits already existing in the banking sector. Plus they were mostly converted into Lebanese pounds. It is normal that the banking sector can’t find immediate use for such amounts when they total around $16 billion. The credit market in
