By all signs and measures, insurance in Lebanon remains on the slow burner. Business developments and preliminary expected results for 2003 – even a somewhat conclusive performance evaluation based on unaudited results is not possible before next April because far too few members of this sector provide half-year or third-quarter reports – indicate no significant changes or additional sector growth in comparison to 2002, when the volume of insurance premiums increased by about 6%. Aside from stronger hopes and aspirations harbored by individual companies and for specific products, insurance managers widely expect that also in 2004, their industry will see more of the same – treading water. This is not to say that the sector doesn’t breathe easier today than it did two years ago, when operators were looking at a mountain of bad news based fundamentally on increasing reinsurance costs and faltering investment portfolios. And the industry certainly appears
