COVID-19 and the Dollar Crisis

The spread of Covid-19 heavily affected many businesses that were still thriving in spite of the harsh economic conditions. Just like any other country around the world, the economy took a big hit, leading the state to default on its debts including local debts to local banks.  This created a shortage of dollars in an extremely dollarized market.

The government’s response came by printing huge amounts of the local currency in order to cover its expenses, which led to a hyperinflation.  Today, as we speak, the dollar rate is LBP 8,000 for each 1 USD.  This depreciated the value of the salaries leaving many families unable to afford rent, education for their children and even food.

As of July 2020, more than 500,000 children are facing famine, more than 1 million families are evicted from their homes or about to be evicted and more than 60% of the local population are unemployed.

This is a story about a nation that’s going hungry and spiraling down into dangerous levels of poverty, please donate whatever you can spare to help.