BEIRUT (AP) – Shops closing, bankrupt companies and pharmacies emptying shelves – in Lebanon these days, fist fights break out in supermarkets, while buyers rush to get subsidized milk powder, rice and cooking oil.
Like almost all other Lebanese, Nisrine Taha’s life has been turned upside down in the last year under the weight of the country’s crushing economic crisis. Anxiety for the future eats away at her.
Five months ago, she was fired from her job at the real estate company where she worked for years. Her 21-year-old daughter cannot find a job, forcing her family to rely on her husband’s monthly salary, which has lost 90% of its value due to the collapse of the national currency.
The family has not been able to pay the rent for seven months, and Taha worries that their landlord’s patience will not last forever. As the price of meat and chicken rose beyond their means, they changed their diet.
“Everything is very expensive,” she said.
Taha’s family is among hundreds of thousands of lower-income Lebanese and middle-class Lebanese who have been plunged into abrupt poverty by the crisis that began in late 2019 – a culmination of decades of corruption by a political class greedy that robbed almost every sector of the economy.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 25% in value in recent weeks alone. Inflation and commodity prices have risen in a country that imports more than 80% of its commodities. Wage-buying power has plummeted and savings have evaporated – all but a 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 further collapse.
Alia Moubayed, CEO of Jefferies, a diversified financial services company, said the “sharp contraction in growth, combined with hyperinflation and devaluation” has pushed more people into precarious jobs, raised unemployment and brought more 50% of the population below the poverty line, compared to an estimated third in 2018.
Lebanon has been without a government since the latter resigned in August, with top politicians unwilling to compromise on forming a new cabinet that could pave the way for reform and recovery. Street violence and sectarian tensions are on the rise.
“People die and nobody cares!” Taha said while visiting a cousin who owns a perfume shop on Hamra shopping street in Beirut. Both wore masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Once a famous shopping district, known for its lively boutiques, cafes and theaters, Hamra Street has changed amid the pandemic. On the last day, many shops were closed, some due to blockade measures, others permanently due to the economic crisis. The traders still open complain that they sell almost nothing.
The beggars demanded money from passers-by. A woman and her child were sitting on the sidewalk next to a drawing on a wall with the words, “We are all beggars.”
“It can’t get worse,” said Ibrahim Simmo, 59, who runs a clothing store. Sales decreased by 90% compared to previous years. He could not sell his winter shares during the virus blockade for almost two months at the beginning of their year, and now the collapse of the currency is making things worse.
Ibrahim Farshoukh, 28, said he barely pays the rent for his shop, which sells handmade leather bracelets and bags. Sometimes his wife is left behind as she goes out on the street, trying to sell bracelets to passers-by. “The situation is unbearable,” he added.
The vast majority of the population is paid in Lebanese pounds, which means that their incomes continue to fall, while prices rise and pensions evaporate. The crisis has also depleted foreign reserves, causing strong warnings, the Central Bank can no longer finance subsidies for some commodities, including fuel.
Videos on social media show fights in supermarkets, while shoppers try to reach for subsidized products, such as cooking oil or milk powder. In a video, armed members of one of the intelligence agencies in Lebanon check their ID cards inside a supermarket before handing over a bag of subsidized rice.
People who once lived comfortably can no longer pay school fees and insurance premiums, or even eat well.
“I don’t remember the last time I ate meat. I can’t afford it, “said Taha, whose husband is employed at the airport. 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, while officials warn of rising food insecurity.
Nabil Fahd, head of the supermarket owners’ association, told local MTV station that people are accumulating goods that stores can no longer replenish – once something is exhausted, store owners have to pay more in Lebanese pounds for new purchases . We are “in a very, very serious crisis,” he said.
The price of bread, the main basic element of the country, has doubled in the last year – and then, earlier this month, bakers reduced the weight of a packet of bread without changing the price.
Taha blames Lebanon’s corrupt political class for bringing the small nation to near bankruptcy.
Assem Shoueib gave up his job as a leading Beirut newspaper in 2000 and moved with his family to France, where he opened a Lebanese restaurant near Paris. Walking down Hamra Street on a recent visit back, the 59-year-old said he had made the right decision.
“It was clear that the country was heading for collapse,” he said.