by arabnews.com — DUBAI: Cyprus will no longer accept flights coming from Lebanon from July 6, national newspaper the Daily Star reported, …

by arabnews.com -- DUBAI: Model and philanthropist Jessica Kahawaty has taken to social media to raise awareness about Lebanon’s deepening economic crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to reports, the economic crisis coupled with the health pandemic can lead to a famine in the Levant country. Kahawaty, who is part Lebanese and part Australian, took to her Instagram Stories to explain the seriousness of Lebanon’s worsening economic crisis and hyperinflation. “For non-Lebanese to understand the severity of what’s happening in Lebanon: $100 used to give you 150,000 Lebanese Liras,” she wrote. “Due to the deteriorating state of the country, $100 gives you 900,000 Lebanese Liras. If you’re living and working in Lebanon and your salary a year ago was 4.5 million Liras per month, today that salary is worth $450. Severe inflation is reflecting an increase in prices in the supermarkets,” she added, before urging her followers to donate to different organizations helping on the ground in Lebanon. “If you know of more organizations, please DM me so I can share,” she wrote alongside links to several Lebanese NGO’s and charities that provide assistance to Lebanese families struggling to put food on the table.

By Nasser Saidi -- thenational.ae -- Lebanon is in the throes of an accelerating economic and financial meltdown. Unsustainable monetary and fiscal policies and an overvalued, pegged exchange rate led to persistent fiscal and current account deficits. Public debt, which reached more than 155 per cent of gross domestic product in 2019, is projected to rise to 161.8 per cent in 2020 and 167 per cent in 2021, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. That is the third-highest ratio in the world after Japan and Greece. Informal capital controls, foreign exchange licensing, freezing of deposits and payment restrictions to protect the dwindling reserves of Lebanon’s central bank, precipitated the financial crisis, generated a sharp liquidity and credit squeeze and the emergence of a system of multiple exchange rates. The squeeze is severely curtailing domestic and international trade and resulted in a loss of confidence in the monetary system and the Lebanese pound. Multiple exchange rates created distortions in markets and new opportunities for corruption. The result is a sharp, double-digit contraction in economic activity, consumption and investment, surging bankruptcies, and rapidly rising unemployment rates estimated at above 30 per cent.

A dangerous inflationary spiral has gripped the country with the currency’s value against the dollar nosediving as much as 80 per cent. Inflation is on the rise and reached an annual 56 per cent in May, according to Lebanon's Central Administration of Statistics. A Bloomberg survey of economists conducted in June, projects inflation will average 22 per cent in 2020 compared with a forecast of 7.7 per cent from a previous survey. The minimum wage has shrunk from the equivalent of $450 per month while food prices have surged. Since the end of a 15-year civil war in 1990, extreme poverty has hovered at between 7.5 to 10 per cent, while about 28 per cent of the population is poor, according to the World Bank. In November, the World Bank warned if the economic situation in the country worsened, those living below the poverty line could rise to 50 per cent. Given the collapse of the long-maintained peg, there is no anchor for expectations of the future value of the Lebanese pound.

by aawsat.com -- Lebanon’s electricity crisis severely worsened over the past few days, with power outages extending to 20 hours per day even in the capital. Many generator owners have raised the monthly tariff because of the high cost of diesel and reduced subscription hours, which drowned several areas in total darkness that was only broken by candlelight. The electricity crisis prompted a number of stores, especially small ones, to stop buying food commodities that need a refrigerator. Minister of Energy Raymond Ghajar said that power rationing was due to the lack of fuel, citing “judicial reasons” behind the delay of delivery by fuel ships.

In response, member of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and electricity expert Mohammed Basbous stressed that the ministry was required to provide further information on the matter. “It’s surprising that we currently face an electricity crisis, especially since the Algerian Sonatrach company announced that it would commit to supplying Lebanon with the amount of fuel it needs and would refrain from renewing the contract at the end of the year,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The electricity crisis was supposed to start at the end of the year and not now, if no alternatives were found,” he emphasized.