WINEP: "LEBANON: 'The answer isn't Islam or sharia banking; it's good policy"

SFM from Beirut: "The moron strikes again. Besides his remarkable ignorance of matters related to Lebanon, he is not shy of displaying his abysmal lack of understanding of anything economic. One should tell this great thinker that the central bank of Lebanon does not conduct 'fiscal' policy but monetary policy. The former is the domain of government and especially the Ministry of Finance. What the Central Bank did was to manage on behalf of the MoF the debt, which is not 'fiscal policy'!!!!"

... and Riad Salameh gets kudos from AIPAC! WINEP's Schenker in the CSM, here

"...Lebanon's economy is a remarkable story, particularly given the political upheaval the state has seen in recent years. Once known as the "Paris of the Middle East," the state's fortunes declined dramatically during 15 years of civil war and 30 years of Syrian occupation. Making matters worse, since 2005 Beirut experienced the murder of a former premier, a devastating war with Israel, an Islamist uprising in the North, periodic attacks -- probably perpetrated by Syria or by local Islamists (Which one is it O Schenker??) -- against the Army, and a military takeover of the capital this past May by the Shiite militia-cum-political party Hezbollah. Complicating matters, Lebanon's pro-West majority governs today in an uneasy coalition with Hezbollah and other local Iranian and Syrian-backed parties.

The key to Lebanon's success at insulating itself from the worst of the global financial meltdown has been sound fiscal policy from the Central Bank. Years ago, Riad Salameh issued a bank circular prohibiting Lebanese banks from subscribing to subprime mortgage products. This rule complemented already extant regulations, limiting banks' participation in other risky products like derivatives. While banks could directly petition Salameh for waivers, Central Bank sources confide that these requests almost universally received his pocket veto. In any event, given the high rate of return on government products and other local and regional investments, there was little need for Lebanese banks to gamble..."