Global goes local

Meanwhile the global credit crisis is washing ashore in Beirut. According to Reuters news agency:

Lebanese real estate developer Solidere said on Thursday that a fall in its share price was temporary, and maintained its 2008 profit outlook, which should remain at the 2007 level of about $130 million.

"The value of the assets of the company is definitely not reflected in this price," Mounir Douaidy, Solidere's general manager and Chief Financial Officer, told Reuters on the sidelines of a business conference in Beirut.

"I don't see the drops in the price really lasting for a long period."

Douaidy said profits for this year should, as forecast, remain near 2007 levels of $130 million.

Shares in Lebanon's largest developer hit a year-low on Thursday.

The A share fell 7.12 percent to $16.95 on the Beirut bourse and its B share shed 8.44 percent to end at $16.80. The share price hit $40 in July.

Picture: Samer Mohdad, Solidaire , Beirut City Center, Lebanon, 1997/2008, Silver print on original mount.