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In 1943, Lebanon gained its formal political independence from France; only after two more decades did the country finally establish a national central bank. Inaugurated on April 1, 1964, the Banque du Liban (BDL) was billed by Lebanese authorities as the nation's primary symbol of economic sovereignty and as the last step towards full independence. In the local press, it was described as a means of projecting state power and enhancing national pride. Yet the history of its founding—stretching from its Ottoman origins in mid-nineteenth century up until the mid-twentieth—tells a different, more complex story. Banking on the State reveals how the financial foundations of Lebanon were shaped by the history of the standardization of economic practices and financial regimes within the decolonizing world. The system of central banking that emerged was the product of a complex interaction of war, economic policies, international financial regimes, post-colonial state-building, global currents of technocratic knowledge, and private business interests. It served rather than challenged the interests of an oligarchy of local bankers. As Hicham Safieddine shows, the set of arrangements that governed the central bank thus was dictated by dynamics of political power and financial profit more than market forces, national interest or economic sovereignty.

Banks and banking, Central --- Monetary policy --- Monetary management --- Economic policy --- Currency boards --- Money supply --- Banker's banks --- Banks, Central --- Central banking --- Central banks --- Banks and banking --- History. --- Finance --- Funding --- Funds --- Economics --- Currency question --- History --- Maṣrif Lubnān --- Banque du Liban --- Central Bank of Lebanon --- Bank of Lebanon --- مصرف لبنان --- BDL (Banque du Liban) --- Banque de Syrie et du Liban --- Lebanon --- Liban --- République libanaise --- Libanon --- Lubnān --- Libanan --- Livan --- Mont-Liban (Turkey : Mutaṣarrifīyah) --- Jabal Lubnān (Turkey : Mutaṣarrifīyah) --- Levanon --- Líbano --- Livanos --- Grand Lebanon --- Grand Liban --- Lebanese Republic --- Jumhūrīyah al Lubnānīyah --- Jumhouriya al-Lubnaniya --- Republic of Lebanon --- لبنان --- جمهورية اللبنانية --- Ліван --- Ліванская Рэспубліка --- Livanskai︠a︡ Rėspublika --- Ливан --- Република Ливан --- Republika Livan --- Λίβανος --- Δημοκρατία του Λιβάνου --- Dēmokratia tou Livanou --- Jumhūrīyyah al-Lubnānīyyah --- 레바논 --- לבנון --- רפובליקה הלבנונית --- Republiḳah ha-Levanonit --- Либан --- Либанска Република --- Libanska Republika --- レバノン --- Rebanon --- レバノン共和国 --- Rebanon Kyōwakoku --- Ливанская Республика --- Республіка Ліван --- Respublika Livan --- Ліванська Республика --- Livansʹka Respublyka --- Levonen --- 黎巴嫩 --- Libanen --- Colonial influence. --- E-books --- Association of Banks in Lebanon. --- Banque du Liban. --- Central banking. --- French Colonialism. --- Laissez-faire. --- Lebanon. --- Merchant Republic. --- Syria. --- financial independence. --- post-colonial state-building.