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Lebanese banks to ease limits on dollar transfers

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by NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s banks will ease restrictions on US dollar withdrawals following a surprise announcement on Thursday by the head of the country’s banking association. Salim Sfeir, chairman of the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), said that US dollars will be supplied by the banks with the support of Lebanon’s central bank. Lebanese banks last November imposed strict limits on US dollar transfers amid an economic and political crisis that led to the collapse of the Lebanese pound. The curbs were introduced as the government and central bank struggled to ease the worst economic crisis since country’s civil war. Sfeir made his announcement after meeting Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari as part of an ABL delegation.

Following the meeting, Sfeir said that he wanted to put the Saudi ambassador “in the picture of the current economic situation in Lebanon.” He praised the Kingdom’s generosity and said “economic life will be back to normal in Lebanon.” The US dollar exchange rate reached its highest level on Thursday, scoring between 9,500 and 9,600 Lebanese pounds, while money dealers adopted a rate of between 3,850 and 3,900 Lebanese pounds. Riad Salame, the central bank governor, told a government session that “the volume of US dollars circulating on the black market does not exceed 5 percent (of the hard currency market) and does not reflect the actual exchange rate of the US dollar.” Meanwhile, Lebanese political leaders held a series of meetings on Thursday amid growing popular demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government.

'Falling off a cliff': Lebanon's poor borrow to buy bread

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by reuters.com -- TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - For Amer al Dahn, the idea of eating meat is now a dream. Today, he can’t even afford bread and depends on credit from the local grocer to feed his wife and four children in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.“We can no longer buy meat or chicken. The closest we get to them is in magazines and newspapers,” said Dahn, 55, leafing through a supermarket brochure in his cramped apartment. Living in one of the poorest streets of Lebanon’s poorest city, Dahn and his family are feeling the full force of a financial meltdown that is fuelling extreme poverty and shattering lives across the country.

In the capital Beirut, a 61-year-old man shot himself in the head on the busy Hamra street on Friday. Reuters could not establish his motives, but local media attributed the suicide to hunger. Struggling to walk because of diabetes, Dahn already faced a difficult life before the crisis which has sunk the Lebanese pound by 80% since October, driving up prices in the import-dependent economy. “Life has become very difficult. The dollar is still climbing and the state is incapable of providing a solution.” Even chickpeas, beans and lentils - a traditional part of the Lebanese diet - are out of reach for some.

Lebanese major retailers to shut down amid economic crisis

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Associated Press -- BEIRUT: Major retailers in Lebanon announced Thursday they will temporarily shut down in the face of an increasingly volatile currency market and their inability to set prices while the Lebanese pound plunges against the dollar. Later in the day, owners of the businesses rallied in central Beirut to denounce the government’s inability to handle a deepening economic and financial crisis, and urging others to join them. "The company is losing and ... (the customers) think we are robbing them," Samir Saliba, owner of sportswear retailer Mike Sport, told The Associated Press. "We want a clear economic policy to know how to move forward and not buy our dollars from the black market and be humiliated with the brokers and money changers." The protesters called on the government to resign and urged other stores to join their protest shutdown.

The Lebanese pound recorded a new low Thursday, selling at nearly 10,000 for a dollar and maintaining the downward slide that saw the national currency lose about 85% of its value over the past months. Despite government and central bank efforts to regulate the foreign currency rate, a parallel market has thrived and inflation is soaring as the dollar becomes increasingly scarce. Amid the tumbling pound, prices and inflation have soared. Power cuts have also increased, as the government struggles to secure fuel and diesel, while grocery stores began imposing a limit on how many items customers can buy amid a rush to hoard basic goods.

Lebanese Pound Falls 50% in 10 Days — Now Worth 1 Satoshi

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Lebanese Pound Falls 50% in 10 Days — Now Worth 1 Satoshi

By SAMUEL HAIG -- cointelegraph.com -- Lebanon’s national currency continues to shed value amid the country’s deepening monetary crisis, with unofficial reports indicating that the Lebanese pound, or lira, has lost 50% of its purchasing power in less than two weeks. On Thursday, local crypto advocate Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard, took to Twitter to assert that after “having lost half its value in the last 10 days, the Lebanese lira is now worth one satoshi” — comprising a historic low for the currency of roughly $0.000093. On June 21, Ammous noted that “Ten years ago, one Lebanese lira was worth 0.67 Bitcoin.” “Imagine spending 45 minutes explaining Bitcoin to a group of Lebanese people and then having one of them ask: ‘but without a central bank regulating, what guarantees Bitcon’s value?’” Ammous posted a day earlier.

Lebanon’s citizens turn to crypto

It’s hard to confirm the precise exchange rate, as Lebanon’s lira has officially been valued at $0.00066 United States dollars since 1997. However, chronic economic mismanagement has led to the emergence of a parallel market for the currency. Reports indicate it has seen its value plummet 86% in roughly one year. The accelerating crisis has crippled daily life in Lebanon, with the country now preparing for a wave of emigration as it prepares to open its sole international airport following COVID-19 restrictions. “We're like prisoners who do nothing but try to plot our escape,” 32-year-old graphic designer Bernard Hage told Al Jazeera.

Lebanon’s Baalbeck Festival will stream its 64th edition

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by arabnews.com --DUBAI: Lebanon’s Baalbeck International Festival is set to take place this month on July 5 despite the ongoing coronavirus, organizers announced this week. The renowned arts and culture event, however, will have no audience. It will broadcast live concerts from the heart of the Bacchus Temple, an ancient site in Lebanon’s Baalbeck at 9 p.m (Saudi time) on the festival’s Facebook and YouTube pages, MBC’s streaming service Shahid and a number of Lebanese TV channels like MTV, LBC and more. “The Bacchus Temple will harbour history, culture and arts as the City of the Sun opens virtually its gates for a one-of-a-kind live concert,” read the festival’s released statement. “The Sound of Resilience will serve as an example for future concerts to be held during the ongoing health crisis.” The program for the concert has not been revealed yet, but the festival stated that the event will celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday by presenting the German composer’s most famous pieces.

'Come with dollars:' Lebanon PM asks its expats to visit home

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By Zeina Karam Associated Press BEIRUT -- With Beirut's airport partially reopening from a three-month virus shutdown, the government is hoping thousands of Lebanese expatriates will return for the summer – and bring dollars desperately needed to prop up the crashing economy. But Lebanon's far-flung diaspora, renowned as entrepreneurs who for years sent their cash home, may no longer be willing to do that. Many are staying away, appalled at the ruling elite's handling of Lebanon's unprecedented economic and financial meltdown and outraged at local banks holding their dollar deposits hostage. Some have stopped sending money, except small amounts to sustain their families. Others are considering cutting ties completely with a corrupt country they say has robbed them of a future. "If you're a Lebanese considering visiting this summer, you will think about bringing only what you need to spend while there, not a single penny more," said Hasan Fadlallah, who has lived since 1997 in Dubai, where he founded a consultancy agency, Brand Lounge. "I doubt anyone is thinking about investing in the economy, especially when you know the recipient is not worthy of this help," he said.

Once a beacon of free market growth and fine living, Lebanon is suffering the worst economic crisis in its modern history. The local currency has lost around 80% of its value against the dollar on the black market since October and continues to tumble daily. Banks have clamped down on withdrawals and transfers of U.S. dollars. Food prices have soared, businesses and households have been thrown into disarray, salaries and savings are fast disappearing, and unemployment has surged. The crisis stems from decades of systematic corruption and mismanagement. Public frustration exploded into street protests in October demanding the entire leadership go. Now, a slide into violence is feared amid mounting poverty and sectarian tensions. Still, political leaders appear unwilling to act, instead squabbling and trading blame. Talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout have faltered over the inability to implement pledges to combat corruption and instill reforms.

Evening dress for baby formula: Lebanese bartering for basics as currency crashes

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by thenational.ae -- An evening dress for milk formula, children's clothes for cooking oil – as they watch prices soar in crisis-hit Lebanon, parents are taking to bartering online to survive. Tens of thousands of people across the social spectrum have lost their job or part of their income due to Lebanon's worst economic crisis in decades. As the Lebanese pound has plunged to historic lows, many have reverted to non-cash transactions to get hold of vital goods now prohibitively expensive in the supermarket. On Facebook, a group called "Lebanon barters" has attracted 12,000 users in just two weeks. Among them, Zeinab, 25, is looking to swap a black evening dress for milk formula and two packets of nappies for her 11-month-old baby boy. "I've never asked for anything from anyone, so I thought bartering would be better," she told Agence France Presse. "I'd feel more comfortable if I swapped something I didn't need for what I really do."

Until very recently, her family lived a "good" life, said the make-up artist from the northern city of Tripoli. But then the financial crisis hit, turning their lives upside-down. Her husband's employer closed shop and the novel coronavirus pandemic prevented her from seeing clients. As the economy nose-dived, diapers suddenly cost nearly three times as much, and the price tag on milk formula almost doubled. "We're now spending the small amount we managed to save, but I don't know what we'll do when it runs out," Zeinab said.