About Us / Chairman’s Letter

Dear Clients, Partners and Correspondents,
 

An Article in the New York Times on January 11, 2009 selected Beirut as the overall number one destination globally among its list of “The 44 Places To Go in 2009”. The annual survey said the Lebanese capital is poised to reclaim its title as the Paris of the Middle East. It added that this year’s most compelling destinations are awash in sublime landscapes, cutting-edge art and architecture, gala music festivals, and stylish new resorts.

 In the midst of the financial and economic crises, the number of tourists, visiting Lebanon reached 1.38 million in 2008, the highest registered number in decades. It outpaced the year 2004 where the number of tourists attained 1.27 million, and came close to breaking the record of 1974 where 1.4 million tourists visited Lebanon.

The underlying factors behind this significant increase are the stabilized political and security environment in the country since the Doha Agreement, the election of General Michel Suleiman as new President and the formation of a national unity government.

At a time when the World’s largest advanced economies are plunging into their worst recession in decades, Lebanon has recorded its best growth rates since the end of the war in 1990 with a real GDP growth of 8% in 2008.

Lebanon appears to be the only country that emerged from the financial crisis with an unscratched banking sector with global funds and investors continuing to show interest in the Lebanese market. The change in the outlook for Lebanon’s sovereign rating from stable to positive by Moody’s on December 11, 2008, while downgrades are flooding the global market, had an upbeat impact on international investors. The last rating action took place on March 25, 2008 when, owing to the resilience of Lebanon's public finances in the face of numerous political shocks, Moody’s changed the outlook from negative to stable.

Furthermore, there is no confidence problem in the Lebanese economy and recent data show that capital keeps on flowing into commercial banks. The Central Bank has played an important role in this by maintaining stability of interest rates without interfering with the directions of the markets, managing the growing liquidity due to the continuous transforming from US dollars to Lebanese pounds, providing incentives to lend in local currency, coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to issue 5 year CDs, and following-up on the implementation of Basel II.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Governor of the Central Bank Mr. Riad Salameh for being the first Lebanese or Arab Governor to ring the bell at the NY Stock Exchange on March 2, 2009.  He was also voted as the Best Governor in the Middle East for the year 2008 by the British magazine “The Banker”. There is no doubt that the sound guidance of the Central Bank and the Banking Control Commission have been of paramount importance of the resilience shown in Lebanon today.

Gross foreign-currency reserves of the Banque du Liban increased from USD 12.8 billion at end-2007 to USD 20.1 billion at end-2008. Total foreign assets, including gold, reached USD 28.2 billion. The average US dollar exchange rate remained stable on the domestic market, standing at LBP 1,507.50.

The consolidated balance sheet of commercial banks rose by 14.6% in 2008, reaching LBP 142,090 billion at end December. During the year, resident and non-resident private sector deposits increased by 15.6%, compared with 10.9% in 2007. Likewise, credits to the private sector rose by 22.6% in 2008, compared with 20.0% in the previous year. The dollarization rate of bank deposits fell from 77.3% at the end-December 2007 to 69.6% at the end-December 2008.

At MEAB, for the first time in our history, our assets topped LL 800 billion, our deposits increased from LL 602 billion to LL 711 billion, an increase of more than 18%, and our profits were a record LL 4.7 billion.

In line with practicing the highest quality of corporate governance two new members were added to our Board of Directors namely Mr. Chbib Moukalled and Mr. Chafic Kobeissi in December 2008 and Mr. Jihad Bassil was appointed as General Manager in May 2009.

It is our goal to be ultimately recognized as a strong and efficient bank that is professionally run and that provides service with excellence. We strongly believe that we are now on our way.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to sincerely thank our clients for their trust and our employees for their dedication and continued contribution to our success and growth. Let me add that no matter how gloomy 2009 may appear for the global economy we believe that it will emerge as one of the best years for Lebanon.

Kassem M. Hejeij
Chairman