Lebanon’s banks have, in recent years, been operating in less than ideal conditions. The economy is estimated to have grown between 1% and 1.5% in 2017, after expanding by about 1.8% in the previous year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
This sub-optimal growth has been accompanied by escalating political and security concerns both at home and across the wider Middle East region. Domestically, ineffective governance has failed to address structural flaws in the economy, while the introduction of a new tax regime, in which Lebanon’s banks were a key target, has piled pressure on the county’s lenders.
