Lebanon CB Head: Economy Still Strong

By BASSEM MROUE

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's economic growth in the first two months of this year slipped to 4 percent, but the tiny Mediterranean nation should escape largely unscathed from the effects of the global economic meltdown if the security and political situation remains stable, the Central Bank governor said Monday.

But Riad Salameh's comments to reporters were soon followed three hours later by a bombing that killed a top Palestinian official and three others in southern Lebanon. The incident marked the first apparent assassination in the country in six months, and underscored the difficulty of pinning economic hopes on security in a nation that has endured decades of war and sectarian fighting.

"The Central Bank indicator for economic activity confirms that real growth in the first two month will be 4 percent, and could be more," Salameh said. "We hope that the political and security conditions remain in this atmosphere so that these expectations be for the whole year not only the first two months.

The rate was far below the roughly 7 percent growth rate Lebanon recorded in 2008, but appeared to exceed expectations.