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HOW ARE THE LEBANESE GETTING BY?

Fady, a software developer for a US company, is considering leaving Lebanon

In three years of crisis, the Lebanese lira has lost more than 95 percent of its value. From LL1,507.5 to the dollar, the greenback is now trading above LL30,000 on the market. Salaries paid in lira are not keeping up with inflation. Bank deposits are restricted. Currency is the key to getting by. Lebanon is collapsing. In this context, a question often comes up: "How are the Lebanese getting by?” We asked some of them this question. They agreed to share their stories. Here, Fady, a software developer, says he gets by on a salary paid entirely in fresh dollars. But he no longer sees his future in Lebanon.

Fady, a software developer for a US company, is considering leaving Lebanon

Illustration by Mark Mansour

From his parents’ house in the Dbayeh area of Metn, Fady* only needs his computer and a good internet connection to work. He has been employed for nine months as a software developer for an American company whose name he prefers not to mention.

The 22-year-old admits he is among the lucky few who, amid Lebanon’s economic crisis, receive their entire salaries in “fresh dollars.” The payments that he receives in cash allow him to live his life “without restrictions.”

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“But I am careful not to spend more than I should,” he says.

His salary of $1,400 a month is now worth LL44.8 million at the market exchange rate recently estimated at LL32,000 to the dollar, compared to a pre-crisis equivalent of LL2.1 million pounds based on the official rate of LL1,507.5.

This means that Fady’s salary in pounds has been multiplied by more than 20, as the national currency has lost more than 95% of its value since the crisis began three years ago. “I am lucky to have started my career with such a salary,” says Fady, who graduated from the Lebanese University in June 2021. Such is the case, he says, “whether there is a crisis or not in Lebanon.”

Still living with his parents, Fady manages to save a little less than half his salary. While he actively contributes to the cost of the household, “nothing is set, it depends on our needs.”

Last month, however, Fady decided to calculate his monthly budget. “My salary is more than enough to live on in Lebanon,” he says, “but the crisis is changing as time goes by, and everything is becoming more expensive because society is 'redollarizing.’” In other words, costs are increasingly linked to the real value of the dollar.

For example, Fady estimated his expenses as follows: LL6.4 million for household expenses; LL2 million for food shopping; LL2 million for various bills, including internet connection and his cell phone; LL400,000 for his gym membership; LL3 million for various leisure activities and LL2.5 million for meal deliveries. The young employee also owns a car, for which he does not pay insurance, and spent LL2.3 million on gas last month.

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“I had a one-time six-hour round trip. I normally spend less on transportation,” he says. Total expenses that month were LL18.6 million, or about 41 percent of his salary.

Here or there

So while Fady is living well, “collecting fresh dollars doesn't mean staying out of the crisis,” he says.

Fady experienced the long queues at gas stations last summer during the country's fuel shortages. His family has also been hit by the shortage of medicines. “We scrambled to find my aunt's cancer medication,” he says. “No one, dollar [salary] or not, escapes the effects of the crisis.”

In order to work, which he does remotely from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, Fady had to install batteries at home to ensure the supply of electricity for his laptop. With the extreme rationing of public electricity and the instability of generators, “we have also started to explore the idea of installing solar panels, but we are still in the early stages of thinking about it.”

Adapting to the crisis has become a daily mission for Fady, as it is for all residents of Lebanon — a mission that is not without consequences. “Before the crisis, I would never have imagined myself living anywhere else but in my country. Today, when I look back, I see myself everywhere but here,” he says with regret.

With his current job, Fady could relocate to the US or Europe, to his company's offices. But “over there, it's obvious that such a salary would not be enough to live properly and save money, unlike here.”

So Fady waits to see what happens. Until then, the ambitious young man has a project in mind: to create and develop his own web application. And whether he ends up staying here in Lebanon or moving abroad, time will tell.

* Fady’s name has been changed

This article was originally published in French at L'Orient-Le Jour.

From his parents’ house in the Dbayeh area of Metn, Fady* only needs his computer and a good internet connection to work. He has been employed for nine months as a software developer for an American company whose name he prefers not to mention. The 22-year-old admits he is among the lucky few who, amid Lebanon’s economic crisis, receive their entire salaries in “fresh dollars.” The...