Moody’s maintains negative outlook for banks

The outlook for Lebanese banks remained negative due to weak economic growth and business sentiment due to the unrest, ratings firm Moody's said on Wednesday. The agency said the operating environment for banks will remain challenging over the 12 to 18 month outlook period. It expected non-performing loans to rise to 6.5 percent of gross loans, from four percent at the end of 2011. Moody's forecast real GDP growth of two percent this year.