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IMF steers steady An upswing in the tourism and retail markets will boost Lebanon’s real gross domestic product by 3.5 percent this year,  according to an  International Monetary Fund statement on February 9. The IMF also predicted that inflation will continue to rise due to the recent increase in minimum wage. In 2011, high public debt (estimated at 134 percent of GDP) and an ongoing current-account deficit caused GDP shrink to 1.5 percent, down from 7 percent growth in 2010. Unrest in Syria continues to be a major risk factor, especially in the short term, since it directly affects banking, consumer confidence, trade and tourism, and thus has banks have reduced their exposure to the country, according to the IMF. There is also a risk of domestic political unrest related to the Special Tribubal for Lebanon, the fund said. Power and telecommunications were marked as the two most important of