Lebanon’s economic crisis worse than civil war

During the civil war that ended more than 30 years ago, Abla Barotta survived shelling and clashes, but she now fears a “slow death” from Lebanon’s worst economic crisis in decades.

The 58-year-old mother of three is among the more than 50 per cent of Lebanese today living in poverty. Echoing a common refrain on television and at public gatherings, Barotta said even the worst days of the war weren’t this tough.

“We used to hide in houses or basements every time we heard shelling during the war, but today, where can we go to hide from hunger, the economic crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and our political leaders?

“We used to fear death from bombardment or sniper fire, but now we fear everything: illness, poverty and hunger.”

Tomorrow marks 46 years since clashes erupted in Beirut between Lebanese Christians and Palestinians backed by leftist and Muslim factions, marking the start of a 15-year conflict that drew in regional powers Israel and Syria. At the time, the country was divided into warring sectarian fiefdoms.

But many managed to preserve a semblance of normal life between bouts of violence and kidnappings. The wheels of Lebanon’s economy kept turning, bolstered by money and weapons sent to warring parties from abroad.

But corruption, negligence and political divisions have plagued Lebanon in the run up to a financial slump now sounding the death knell for a fragile middle class.

Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost over 85 per cent of its value against the dollar on the black market and prices have soared.

Customers have come to blows in supermarkets to secure fastselling subsidised products, while shortages in pharmacies have made medicine shopping akin to hunting for treasure.

Despite the deterioration, authorities have done little to stem a crisis compounded by the Covid19 pandemic and last year’s port blast that cost more than 200 lives and ravaged swathes of Beirut.

“The war was ugly... but we never lived through anything like this economic crisis,” Barotta said in her Beirut home that was hard hit by the Aug 4 explosion.

“This anxiety over whether we will be able to eat tomorrow... we have never lived that before.”