BEIRUT - Lebanon may launch a public sale
of 25 percent of national carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA)
after the world economy improves and a new government backs the
plan, the central bank governor told a television on Sunday.
"The tendency is to sell 25 percent of the shares we own in
MEA," Riad Salameh told Al Arabiya television on the sidelines
of an economic meeting in Kuwait.
Salameh said this would have to be done after the end of the
current economic slowdown and when a new Lebanese government
approves the plans for the initial public offering and the
listing of shares on the Beirut bourse.
In August 2008, Salameh said the environment was good to
move ahead with a 25 percent IPO of MEA, which is owned by the
central bank.
Faced by divisions and successive political crises,
Lebanon's outgoing government failed to implement major economic
reforms, including privatisation in key sectors