A Beirut supermarket. Photo Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters.

The American dollar is the world standard. What does it buy in Lebanon?

In Lebanon, 1,500 pounds used to buy an American dollars’ worth of goods. Today, it takes about 12,000 pounds to buy a dollars’ worth of groceries.

When the Lebanese grocer buys food to sell in his store, he pays in pounds. When it takes more pounds to buy food for his shelves, he must raise prices.

Lebanon is a disaster. Corruption and scandals are rampant. Its government is in disarray. Unemployment is high. Prices are skyrocketing. And most of its food comes from elsewhere.

Lebanon has been in a crisis since 2019. The government has no clear plan to slow the descent. in August 2020 left a large part of the capital in ruins. It deepened the misery.

Food prices have risen 400 percent compared with a year earlier. Prices for clothing and shoes have gone up 560 percent. Prices for hotels and restaurants have risen more than 600 percent.

More than half of Lebanon’s population has become poor. That is almost double the number from the year before. Extreme poverty had increased, and the situation is getting worse.

For many Lebanese, the crisis is in the grocery store. said that food prices in Lebanon had increased 423 percent since October 2019. Staples have vanished, and other basics have exploded in price. There has been a run on oil, flour, sugar, and rice. Prices have continued to rise.

“Everything is soaring,” said a woman. She said the price of the jug of cooking oil she had bought last week was now two-thirds higher. “I am really shocked.”

She had come to the store planning to buy laundry detergent and pasta. She did not have enough cash. She said her husband brought in 750,000 pounds per month as a driver. That used to be worth $500 but now is worth less than $60.

The problem is the government. In reality, the problem is the lack of a government. After the explosion in 2020, the government resigned. No stable government replaced it.

Lebanon is part of the world economy. The Lebanese pound is down in value. The world’s bankers have lost confidence in the government.

One man said politicians are stealing the state’s money. Another said the problem is the people. A third person said, “That is an essential point. If there were elections tomorrow, the same people would be back.”

Source: The New York Times