LEBANESE BANKERS: SMART, OR DID THEY KNOW SOMETHING?

From the BBC:Lebanon 'immune' to financial crisis

Beirut: The world maybe in meltdown but Beirut is booming. The country best known for wars, turmoil and instability has not just survived the global financial crisis, it seems to be thriving because of it.

Deep down in the basement of Lebanon's Central bank treasury vaultsare full. Cash has been flowing in like never before, Lebanese banks are posting record deposits and bankers say this is the best year in Lebanon's financial history.

According to the country's chief banker all of this is because while the world was shocked when in September the banking giants began to wobble, Lebanon was prepared.

"I saw the crisis coming and I told the commercial banks in 2007 to get out of all international investments related to the international markets", says Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's Central Bank.

"You could have thought they had a crystal ball"
Edward GardnerInternational Monetary Fund