Chaaban, Jad2010-03-292010-03-292008http://hdl.handle.net/10625/42570The Lebanese banking sector is the main source of financing for the private sector, yet it is also highly exposed to public sector risk. The banking sector also holds the entire endowment of the country in foreign assets, directly as deposits with foreign banks, or indirectly through deposits in foreign currencies with the Central Bank. The paper examines in detail the functions of the banking sector, including its exposure to risk. Though the business community and their citizen employees are the ones paying the price of Lebanon's continued destabilization, collective action on the part of the private sector has so far been largely symbolic and grown progressively less effective.1 digital file (33 p.)enBANKING SYSTEMSREGULATIONSPOLITICAL STABILITYFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFINANCIAL MANAGEMENTPOLITICAL WILLCIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTSLEBANONMIDDLE EASTWorking Paper