Mental Health & Economic Performance in a Crisis-marred Lebanon
I turn on my laptop to write, blank head, I turn it off. Turn it on again, I forget what I want to write about, I turn it off. Third time’s a charm, right? Not in Lebanon. Third time, there’s no electricity, no Wi-Fi, no patience anymore. Deadline is approaching, anxiety kicks in. While […]
Lebanon Today: Is It Really Worse Than The Civil War?
“Jedo (grandpa), was it like this during the Civil War?” “It was never like this.” Lebanon, a tiny spot on the world’s map, has rarely experienced a prolonged period of peace. After the roaring 60s, this country has encountered several disturbances. To promote stability after the Civil War, the Lebanese government decided to peg its […]
How Corruption Corroded Healthcare and Electricity in Lebanon
From children and adolescents rummaging through rubbish bins in search of scraps of food or aluminum cans, to elderly people selling minuscule commodities on the streets of Beirut and deprived of any modicum of social protections to live out their twilight years in dignity, Lebanon’s socioeconomic collapse is in full swing. In mid-2020, when the […]
What Role Will Cryptocurrency Play in Lebanon’s Economic Crisis?
Feature photo credits: Venezuelans produce street art out of hyperinflated banknotes (Juancho Torres/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Imagine yourself in a dense city with the remnants of an ongoing crisis present at every turn. Your employer pays you in local banknotes which have been rendered virtually worthless due to severe hyperinflation. You find ways to make […]
The Economic and Financial Collapse of the Once-Called “Paris of the Middle East”
Lebanon is facing a multi-faceted crisis and many geopolitical challenges. The fiscal deficit, balance of payment deficit, unsustainable public debt, currency collapse, and historic financial sector crisis are but a few of the main factors plunging the country into an economic depression. This is, disastrously, driving poverty to reach more than 50 percent of the […]
Displaced Syrian Communities in Lebanon : A Crisis Within a Crisis
Author’s note : It goes without saying that Lebanon and all of the people living on its territory are facing the hardest of times. They are at odds with a three- headed monster — the COVID-19 pandemic, the increasing failure of the political class, and a financial crisis which has devalued the Lebanese pound to never-before-seen […]
The Cash Crunch: An Expats’ Liquidity Handbook
Remittances into Lebanon Bank-Only Transfers Local Lebanese “fresh fund” accounts give holders access to money in three major foreign currencies. Those are US Dollars, Euros and British Pounds, depending on currency availability. Foreign Exchange (FX) account holders can withdraw USD in cash fairly easily through select ATMs or ITMs across Lebanon. “FX” account holders can […]