BEIRUT — The value of the Lebanese lira plunged to new record lows Wednesday with parallel market exchangers selling dollars for over LL18,000.
The previous record sell rate of LL17,800 was set on June 26, leading to fiery roadblocks and scattered protests, in which several people were injured, across the country. Businesses in Saida and Tripoli shut down as their owners struggled to keep up with the fluctuating currency.
Since the lira first began to depart from its official peg of LL1,507.5 to the dollar in summer 2019, it has lost more than 90 percent of its value on the parallel market.
The currency’s plunge has triggered rapid inflation and decimated the buying power of families who depend on income earned in lira.
The price of a month’s worth of food for a family of five has soared to LL2.1 million, more than three times the minimum wage, the American University of Beirut’s Crisis Observatory reported this week.