In addition, Salmeh said Lebanon has no plans to reduce its gold reserves, which he said are the second largest in the Middle East.

Months of political bickering over the new government have been costly for Lebanon, slashing its growth rate from an average annual 8.0 percent over the last four years.

“What really influenced the growth rate this year was that in the first six months of the year, Lebanon did not have any growth due to the political situation and the absence of a government,” Salameh said.

“We have seen that since July, the activity in the country has resumed in a satisfactory manner,” he said ahead of Arab central bank governors’ meeting in Doha.

The International Monetary Fund said in April Lebanon’s 2011 economic growth rate would fall to 2.5 percent due largely to political uncertainty.

Salameh said social unrest in Syria hit cross-border tourism and trade but the impact on the Lebanese economy was hard to quantify. However, tourism receipts were higher overall than last year due to air arrivals, he said.

“You cannot quantify it. But certainly confidence is a major driver of growth, and confidence was not hurt by what is happening in Syria,” he said.

He did not give a forecast for gross domestic product growth for 2012, saying it was too early, but considered the 2011 slowdown as a one-off “blip.”

The country’s finance minister said last week the government was expecting growth of not less than 4 percent in 2012.

Bank deposits in Lebanon increased by around $4.5 billion over the past months, Salameh said, adding he expected deposit growth to be around 7 percent in 2011.

Asked if some of the deposit increase was due to inflows from Syria, he said: “No. It is essentially the regular flows that we have from expat Lebanese and we did not monitor important transfers from Syria to Lebanon.”

Inflation in Lebanon should reach around 6 percent this year due to higher oil and commodity prices, Salameh said, above the central bank’s 4 percent target.

A recent rise in gold prices to record highs has provided the Lebanese central bank with “precious support” of monetary stability, and there were no plans to reduce its reserves, Salameh said.

“We are staying with the stock of gold we have,” he said.

Lebanon holds foreign currency reserves of around $33 billion and gold stock worth around $17 billion.

The central bank was committed to keep the Lebanese pound stable and it was intervening in the market to keep it at the lower side of its tight 1,501-1,514 to the dollar range, Salameh said, but declined to specify dollar amounts it has been buying.

“We do interventions. We are maintaining the price of 1,501. The interest of Lebanon is to have a stable currency and this has helped in stabilizing prices and also helped to create a proper environment for investment,” he said.