Daily Times

The Lebanese pound on Tuesday crossed the symbolic threshold of 30,000 to the dollar on the black market in a new record low, according to websites monitoring the exchange rate. The pound now trades at 20 times the official peg value of 1,500 pounds to the greenback, with no end in sight to the economic and political crisis plunging ever-growing numbers into poverty. The currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value on the black market in the past two years. The purchasing power of people has plummeted, and the minimum monthly wage of 675,000 pounds is now worth just $22. Activists have called for rallies outside the central bank headquarters in Beirut on Saturday to protest the devaluation of the currency. According to the United Nations, four in five Lebanese are now considered poor. The World Bank estimates it may take Lebanon nearly two decades to recover its pre-crisis per capita GDP. The new record adds to the troubles of the Lebanese government, which was formed in September but has failed to meet since October, due to the divisions over the fate of investigations into Beirut’s gigantic port blast in August 2020.