Lebanese protest over currency collapse

Lebanese anti-government protesters lift placards demanding a stop to economic collapse, transparent elections, and protection of poverty-striken communities, as they march in a downtown street of the capital Beirut, on 12 March 2021. [JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images]

Lebanese people yesterday took to the streets to denounce the collapse of the value of the lira against the US dollar.

On Monday, the US dollar amounted to almost 33,000 Lebanese liras on the black market, while the official price in the central bank stood at 1,500 liras.

The currency collapse was reported to have “significantly” affected the price of food, fuel and medicine, consequently decreasing purchasing power.

Protesters blocked main roads across the capital city, Beirut, the northern city, Tripoli, and the eastern province of Baalbek.

For two years now, Lebanon has been witnessing an unprecedented economic crisis that led to a currency collapse, and shortages in fuel and medicine.

The World Bank has warned that Lebanon’s prolonged severe economic depression may place it among the ten most severe crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century.

READ: Lebanon man sets himself on fire in protest of dire living conditions

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.