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Lebanon is three years into its economic crisis. These three long years have disrupted the daily life of all Lebanese, leaving many in extreme hardship. In the meantime, the country’s political class has carried out, more or less discreetly, a real “adjustment without reforms” of unparalleled harshness, even brutality, for depositors, companies and residents.Balance sheets cleaned upLet’s take stock of the situation. First, the Lebanese lira dropped from LL1,500 to the dollar to LL64,000 in early February, losing over 95 percent of its value against the greenback. At the same time, the “Lebanese dollar,” or “lollar,” deposited in banks before the 2019 crisis, has lost nearly 85 percent of its value due to informal restrictions imposed on withdrawals and transfers by banks.The public debt in lira, which was the equivalent of $55 billion...
Lebanon is three years into its economic crisis. These three long years have disrupted the daily life of all Lebanese, leaving many in extreme hardship. In the meantime, the country’s political class has carried out, more or less discreetly, a real “adjustment without reforms” of unparalleled harshness, even brutality, for depositors, companies and residents.Balance sheets cleaned upLet’s take stock of the situation. First, the Lebanese lira dropped from LL1,500 to the dollar to LL64,000 in early February, losing over 95 percent of its value against the greenback. At the same time, the “Lebanese dollar,” or “lollar,” deposited in banks before the 2019 crisis, has lost nearly 85 percent of its value due to informal restrictions imposed on withdrawals and transfers by banks.The public debt in lira, which was the equivalent...
