BEIRUT (AP) – Shops closing down, companies going bankrupt and pharmacies with empty shelves – in Lebanon today, fights arise in supermarkets as consumers struggle to get subsidized powdered milk, rice and cooking oil.
Like almost all other Lebanese, Nisrine Taha’s life turned upside down last year under the weight of the country’s overwhelming economic crisis. The anxiety for the future is consuming her.
Five months ago, she was fired from her job at the real estate where she worked for years. The 21-year-old daughter cannot find a job, forcing the family to count on her husband’s monthly salary, which has lost 90% of its value due to the fall of the national currency.
The family has been unable to pay the rent for seven months, and Taha worries that the landlord’s patience will not last forever. As the price of meat and chicken skyrocketed beyond their means, they changed their diet.
“Everything is very expensive,” she said.
Taha’s family is among hundreds of thousands of low-income and middle-class Lebanese who have been plunged into sudden poverty by the crisis that began in late 2019 – a culmination of decades of corruption by a greedy political class that plundered almost every sector of the country. economy.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 25% in value in just the past few weeks. Inflation and the prices of basic goods have soared in a country that imports more than 80% of its basic goods. The purchasing power of wages has declined dramatically and economies have evaporated – all on top of the coronavirus pandemic and a massive explosion last August in the port of Beirut that damaged parts of the capital.
More than half of the population now lives in poverty, according to the World Bank, while an intractable political crisis heralds a new collapse.
Alia Moubayed, managing director of Jefferies, a diversified financial services company, said the “strong contraction in growth, coupled with hyperinflation and devaluation” pushed more people into precarious jobs, increased unemployment levels and placed more than 50 % of the population below the poverty line, compared to an estimated third in 2018.
Lebanon has been without a government since the last one resigned in August, with key politicians unwilling to compromise on the formation of a new Cabinet that could pave the way for reforms and recovery. Street violence and sectarian tensions are increasing.
“People are dying and nobody cares!” said Taha when visiting a cousin who owns a perfumery on Beirut’s Hamra shopping street. Both wore masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Once a famous shopping district, known for its bustling boutiques, cafes and theaters, Rua Hamra changed in the midst of the pandemic. Recently, many stores were closed, some due to blocking measures, others permanently due to the economic crisis. Merchants who are still open complain that they are selling almost nothing.
The beggars asked passersby for money. A woman and her son were sitting on the sidewalk next to a drawing on a wall with the words: “We are all beggars”.
“It can’t get any worse,” said Ibrahim Simmo, 59, who runs a clothing store. Sales fell by 90% compared to previous years. He was unable to sell his winter stock during the nearly two-month virus block earlier this year, and now the falling currency is making things worse.
Ibrahim Farshoukh, 28, said he barely pays rent for his shop, where he sells handmade leather bracelets and bags. Sometimes, his wife stays behind while he goes out into the street, trying to sell bracelets to passersby. “The situation is unbearable,” he added.
The vast majority of the population is paid in Lebanese pounds, which means that their income decreases even more as prices soar and pensions evaporate. The crisis has also depleted foreign reserves, generating strong warnings that the Central Bank can no longer finance subsidies for some basic commodities, including fuel.
Videos on social media show fights in supermarkets as shoppers try to obtain subsidized products, such as cooking oil or powdered milk. In a video, armed members of one of Lebanon’s intelligence agencies check identity cards inside a supermarket before handing over a bag of subsidized rice.
People who once lived comfortably are now unable to pay school fees and insurance premiums, or even eat well.
“I don’t remember the last time we ate meat. I can’t afford it, ”said Taha, whose husband is an airport maintenance worker. The family’s diet now consists mainly of lentils, rice and bulgur, she said.
The collapse of the currency has forced some grocery stores, pharmacies and other businesses to close temporarily, as authorities warn of growing food insecurity.
Nabil Fahd, head of the supermarket owners’ association, told the local MTV station that people are piling up goods, that stores can no longer refuel – once something runs out, shopkeepers have to pay more in Lebanese pounds for new supplies. We are “in a very, very serious crisis,” he said.
The price of bread, the country’s main food, rose twice last year – and then earlier this month, bakers reduced the weight of a loaf of bread without changing the price.
Taha blames Lebanon’s corrupt political class for bringing the small nation to near bankruptcy.
Assem Shoueib left his job at a major newspaper in Beirut in 2000 and moved with his family to France, where he opened a Lebanese restaurant near Paris. Walking down Hamra Street on a recent return visit, the 59-year-old said he made the right decision.
“It was clear that the country was heading for collapse,” he said.