‘It feels like a failed state’: Lebanon’s crisis deepens as it awaits bailout

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Lebanon’s catastrophic economic collapse is gathering pace, with its currency shedding value daily, prices of essential foods out of the reach of many and talks that could unlock a desperately needed bailout crippled by what critics say is a determination by the ruling class to protect a broken system.

A confrontation in Beirut earlier this week between Lebanese security forces and people protesting against dire economic conditions. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The country’s collapse has led to meat and chicken prices tripling over the past fortnight, and scarcities of fuel and flour – amplified by the sale of state-subsidised supplies to neighbouring Syria where they get a better price for it, and sharply increasing hunger.

Protein has been taken off the menu at army barracks while ordinary Lebanese have resorted to selling furniture in order to raise enough money to buy food. Retail chains closed en masse during the week, and almost all the country’s hotels remain shuttered – hopes of a spike from summer tourism were dashed by the Covid-19 pandemic and rising fears about security across the country.

Two men killed themselves on Friday, apparently driven to despair by the crisis.

Civic leaders and two members of a team that led talks with the International Monetary Fund in an attempt to introduce billions of dollars in global aid say patronage networks that have run the government and enriched its leaders are seen as being more valuable than safeguarding the country itself.

“When it’s all boiled down, this is indeed the reckoning,’ said one senior politician. “If you break what’s been built since the war years, we are in for another conflict. And it could make 1982 look like a dress rehearsal.”

An anti-government protester shouts at riot police in Beirut on Friday, near the scene where a Lebanese man killed himself apparently because of the deteriorating economic and financial crisis. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

The apparent hopelessness of the country’s predicament has come into sharp focus over the past fortnight, as the IMF has raised the alarm over stalled talks that could free up to $5bn in aid, and pave the way for contributions from France, the EU, and the Gulf states, all of whom have been benefactors of Lebanon but have become wary of pouring more money into the country.

Overhauling patronage systems that entrenched warlords at the end of a 15-year conflict and have turned all state institutions into fiefs, has been a central demand of the IMF and international community. “You would not think this would be difficult,” said a senior European diplomat. “We have been begging them to behave like a normal state, and they are acting like they are selling us a carpet.”

The whole system is corrupt

Another senior diplomat, who like others declined to be named, said: “Lebanon no longer has anything like a lustre. It just feels like a failed state.”

How to stymie the wounds seems obvious to those who took to the streets last October, calling for an overhaul of a sclerotic system that many said has enfeebled the country by reinforcing widespread corruption, denying them opportunities on merit and turning citizens into subjects.

“I couldn’t get a job on merit last September, said Mahmoud Suleiman, a carpenter from Cheika in the north of the county. And I sure can’t now. Even if I go to the sunni leader here, they can’t help because there is no work. And they wouldn’t want to help even if they could. Their concern is their own interests. That’s always been the case.”

An anti-government protester holds a placard in Arabic that reads “Soon $ 1 = 10000 Lebanese pounds, if you are not happy, leave ,” during a protest against the political leadership they blame for the economic and financial crisis, in front of the government house in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, June 11, 2020.Hussein Malla

The precipitous collapse in the local currency, the lira, continued unabated on Friday, reaching as low as 10,000 to one US dollar, compared with the pegged rate of 1,500 to the dollar, which had been fixed since 1991.

“I’ve changed the barcode prices three times this week alone,” said Chantelle AbuZeid, a shopkeeper in the Beirut suburb of Sinn al-Fiel. “That’s all I do, because no one’s buying.”

A growing concern is that the currency collapse has no floor, because nothing can generate confidence in the crumbling economy. “As long as the country is not really functioning, every dollar that is put into the system is swallowed,” said Albert Leteyf, a partner at Levantine Consultants. “Introducing dollars is seen as a saviour, but I can’t see that slowing the fall. We’ve gone too far.”

“It’s wrong to speak about specific parties here, because it gets you in trouble,” said Charbel Melad, from Jounieh, north of Beirut. “But it really is time for a reckoning. Why should people who hold the country to ransom be allowed to get away with it. This patronage system has to go, and so do the parties who put it above the welfare of the state.”

THE GUARDIAN

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17 responses to “‘It feels like a failed state’: Lebanon’s crisis deepens as it awaits bailout”

  1. Arzna Avatar

    It is a failed state ….not only feels like a failed state . Diab proved to be. a professor in failure . He has done absolutely nothing for the country since he took over. What did he come to do? just to bullshit , kiss the ass of those that brought him to power , invent conspiracy theories and enjoy the living in the Grand Serail . We have tons of people like him in Lebanon , what the country lacks is visionary leaders who can rid Lebanon of the corrupt ruling class and set the country on the right track . Let’s identify them or let them stand up and be counted …. None of the corrupt Lebanese politicians qualifies for the job . They are all part of the mafia that has been robbing the country and the people .

  2. @”awaits bailout” – There will be no bailout as long as a) Lebanon expects it to come from Western Democracies; and b) Hezbollah is not outlawed everywhere in Lebanon. Plenty of people have been repeating that for months, seasons, and years. The West will not save Lebanese from themselves … Lebanese must want to help themselves and, if not, the poverty, starvation, and infighting will be met with “well, that’s just too bad ..” from everyone but Syria, Iran, Russia, and Turkey.

    Not ready to help ourselves and change for the better, all Lebanese should be preparing to be conquered. It “will not be pretty or quick” and no one will be exempt .. They don’t want us, they want our land and access to the sea ..

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Another lone Israeli squater, thats how YaLibnan was destroyed.

      1. Excepting Hezbollah’s willful siphoning, Lebanese understand how money works … well, “many Lebanese” since you would seem to be a counter-example.

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          You’re not Lebanese

          1. @HInd: I am certainly not your kind of Lebanese; partitioned sectarianism is our failure. Get over it and move on to a better way of governing Lebanese affairs .. you might win a bit or you might lose a bit, but that no longer matters. Stop doing what you do because it has ruined the country and continuing with certainly end it(, and probably for ever).

          2. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            There are ‘kinds’ of Lebanese? Please keep your ‘Knowledege’.. Good bye

            https://salaamone.com/bernard-lewis-plan/
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9QLNHjIQe8

          3. Next you will tell me that you think that Nasrallah, Rai, Jumblatt, Aoun, Hariri, etc. are all the same … true Lebanese patriots in whom we should trust and obey …

          4. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Troll ..you say that because you read Bernard Lewis? Yes

          5. Perhaps everyone you know was sent overseas by Mommy and Daddy for a higher education that only money can buy. Clearly, you don’ t know …

          6. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Your arrogance is deafening..you know nothing of Lebanon and Middle Eas History, are you a child?
            Since when Lebanese had no educationr?
            I was educated in Lebanon..do you speak French? It’s the oficial language after Arabic in Lebanon.

            You can have education the rest is up to you. Sharmine Narwani is an important Lebanese Geostrategic analyst.
            I don’t think you even speak Arabic.

          7. Unless you are her, your appeal to relying on her prominence as a sufficient for you lack of critical thinking is unfortunately pitiful.

          8. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            At least she was born in Lebanon, has High education. I relie on myself not Jewish US Ambassador like you do.

            Did you even go to elementary school, or your ignorance of Middle East History is the result of Israel Zionist Revisionism education..you have
            Israeli English accent.

            I asked if you spoke Arabic or French, you didn’t answer! Do you know Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran??

          9. Aaah, sweet Mary Haskell .. alas the little black book cannot be what your misplaced romanticism would impose on it. Gibran Khalil Gibran had enough self-awareness to know that his writings and art were but individualistic musing and not worthy of a movement or a national philosophy. And he understood the Lebanese soul well enough to know his contributions could not fulfill such desires. Too bad that he couldn’t have lived his productive life in Lebanon; he’d might have been more than a curious footnote wedged between previously great empires who once exploited the Levant.

          10. Oh and Gibran would argue both that Pan Arabism was an idea that should not have been promoted, as it was, and that ماتت اللغة العربية الفصحى

    2. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      If Lebanon accepts US IMF loan our children and grand children wil be slavesd for the rest of their life. US is ruined but gives $10 million a day to Israel for wars to create Greater Israel. US keep printing money taken from futur tax payers, born in 2000..how can you sleep at nigth? That’s the future.

      Iran Syria Russia are ready to help they dont ow IMF.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1fe1b0c908558e3659a22d8c55a48fab48b3577539db520b558513093839d56.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/33125361fe2ffd2fa4bb1ed86bed3d120721d201d5a51817d45d3d6f0d1f3fed.png

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