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Economy taking knocks The political upheavals in Lebanon and around the region, coupled with a natural cyclical downturn, may signal the end of Lebanon’s economic honeymoon of the past several years. According to a statement issued by the International Monetary Fund, Lebanon will grow at just 2.5 percent this year — the worst rate since the 2006 war with Israel. To make matters worse, the inflation rate is also expected to climb to 6.5 percent this year. The IMF estimated the economy’s growth rate last year to be 7.5 percent. This year’s low growth rate was attributed to the cabinet’s collapse in January and the continuing political deadlock over the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigation, according to investment bank Merrill Lynch. The bank cited the drop in the balance of payments to $2.6 billion in January along with $1 billion in capital outflows, an increase in dollarization and a