Moheidein Bazazo changes price tags from Lebanese pound to the U.S. dollar in a shop in in Beirut, Lebanon, March 1, 2023. When Moheidein Bazazo opened his Beirut mini-market in 1986, during some of the fiercest fighting in Lebanon's civil war, he didn't expect it to thrive. But several years later, he had shelves full of food and needed 12 employees to help him manage a bustling business.
The Lebanese pound has lost 95% in value since late 2019, and now most restaurants and many stores are demanding to be paid in dollars. The government recently began allowing grocery stores like Bazazo's to start doing the same. Three-quarters of Lebanon's 6 million people have fallen into poverty since the 2019 crisis began. Crippling power cuts and medicine shortages have paralyzed much of public life.
Last month, its value fell from about 64,000 pounds to the dollar to 88,000 on the black market, while the official rate is 15,000. Making things worse for a country reliant on imported food, fuel and other products priced in dollars, the government recently tripled the amount of tax -- in Lebanese pounds -- that importers must pay on those goods.
The shift to a more dollar-dominated economy happened not by government decree, but by companies and individuals refusing to accept payment in a currency that relentlessly loses value. "People are fed up with the fluctuation of the dollar rate, and having to spend lots of time changing it, so practically, on a societal level, it's better to use dollars," Mansour said. "This is the end of the Lebanese pound as we know it."
CTV will never do a full dive into why Lebanon is failing. The only cause is it’s open border. Let that sink in.
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