As of Tuesday night, a single US dollar is reportedly being exchanged for as low as 4,850 Lebanese pounds in the black market. The “crazy drop” in the value of the Lebanese currency caused protests to break out in Beirut and various areas in Lebanon: Bekaa, Tripoli, the south…
At Riad el-Solh Square, frustrated protesters gathered to raise their voices against the government and the central bank’s financial policies, calling for “civil disobedience.”
Similarly, in Hamra Street, protesters formed a crowd in front of the Banque du Liban, the Lebanese central bank, and chanted against the rapid depreciation of their national currency.
Meanwhile, the Ring Bridge area is witnessing similar demonstrations and the number of protesters in the streets is increasing by the minute in Beirut, Saida, Tripoli, and Central Beqaa.
The decline of the Lebanese pound against the US dollar has had devastating economic and financial consequences on the country.
The chaotic destination that Lebanon is quickly headed to has been very concerning for the Lebanese people. Every day, citizens complain that the prices of basic food commodities are only going up.
This is inevitably caused by the consistent decline of the Lira’s value. This decline is not only affecting the living conditions of the Lebanese but most sectors and industries in Lebanon as well.
For instance, the Lebanese telecommunications sector has been threatened with collapse ever since its fuel reserves began running out. As of the time of writing, 5 cellular towers in Hermel are hit by the diesel shortage with people left without communication.
Last week, Central Beirut witnessed large anti-government protests, akin in scale to those of the early days of the October 17th uprising.
Earlier on Tuesday, June 9th, State Security forces were inspecting money changers across Lebanon and enforcing the USD/LBP exchange rate that the Syndicate of Money Changers had specified in the morning.
The latter had previously announced its plan to gradually increase the value of the Lebanese pound over the coming days.
Despite that, the pound is rapidly edging closer to an unprecedented 5,000 per $1, and Money Change Offices in the country are claiming that they ran out of dollars.
