Capital inflows rose 24 percent to $18 billion while the balance of payments recorded a surplus of over $6 billion, Safadi said.

Lebanon bucked the global and Arab trend and recorded a rise in FDIs whereas all other Arab countries witnessed a drop in FDIs at varying rates, said Marwan Barakat, chief economist at Bank Audi.

“We expected FDIs to be affected by the liquidity squeeze in the region and the impacts of the global financial crisis which are still ongoing, but the economy has once again reversed the trend,” he said.

Barakat attributed the return of investor confidence “to the political and security stability, a factor which is impacting positively the long-term prospects of the economy and improving the country’s outlook.”

“The economy has a great room for future growth, investors receive a good return on investments and with the returning confidence, they are back,” Barakat said.

The services and real-estate sectors attracted the bulk of investments in 2009, said Barakat who noted that the largest share of investments came from Arab-and mainly Gulf investors.

Marwan expected a further growth in FDIs in 2010, “but the growth remains tied to the political and security risks,” he said.