Lebanese consumer confidence levels at lowest since 2007

The Byblos Bank-OSB Consumer Confidence Index showed Lebanese consumers’ confidence levels at their lowest during the first nine months of 2011, owing chiefly to political divisions over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the ongoing political crisis in neighboring Syria. The index, a joint project between Byblos Bank and Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut, was launched Thursday at the bank’s headquarters in Beirut. The study, covering the period between 2007 and 2011, said consumer confidence levels have been extremely sensitive to political and security developments in the country. The Lebanese economy has long been subject to the influence of politics and security, but the study is the first-of-its-kind to methodically correlate an economic indicator to the country’s turbulent political landscape. “The results of our Index show that consumer confidence in Lebanon is significantly affected by political events, whether they are negative or positive,” Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said at the project’s launching event.