Ahmed Murad (Beirut, Cairo)
The Lebanese Parliament approved the draft budget law for 2024 after introducing amendments to it, but experts said that the draft law neglected to include crucial reforms that would help the country emerge from the financial collapse that destroyed the public sector for nearly 5 years. The draft law was approved late yesterday, after three days of disputes that included several altercations in the parliament hall with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, highlighting the deep divisions that have prolonged the presidential vacuum that has continued for more than a year.
The political, economic, and living crises that Lebanon is witnessing have caused many serious social consequences and repercussions, including the unprecedented increase in waves of mass migration, and the forced thousands to leave their homeland, in search of job opportunities and a decent life abroad.
According to some estimates, the waves of immigration during the period between 2020 and 2023 led to the departure of approximately 12% of Lebanon’s citizens at a rate ranging between 400 to 500 thousand immigrants, making it the first country in the world in terms of population decline.
The Lebanese analyst and writer, Asaad Bishara, explained that since the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2019, Lebanon has been suffering from a severe population drain due to waves of mass migration that have increased in an alarming manner with the worsening political, economic, social and living crises over the past two years, including the presidential vacuum crisis extending since December 2022 and onwards. It resulted in tragic situations.
Bishara stated in a statement to Al-Ittihad that the population drain in Lebanon is increasing, specifically among the youth group, who constitute 80% of the immigrant population, especially since job opportunities and building the future no longer exist in their country.
As the pace of the financial collapse accelerated during the past three years, waves of mass migration from most official departments and institutions increased, as the percentage of vacant jobs reached about 70%, or about 19 thousand jobs in public sector institutions and departments, which included 27 thousand jobs three years ago.
The writer and political analyst said that an entire generation now wants to leave Lebanon, which constitutes the largest catastrophe since World War I in 1914, when the country was exposed to a famine that led to the death of a third of the population. Therefore, an economic and political reform program must be adopted that will attract these people to return to the country in order to Reviving its economy and building it again.
For his part, the Lebanese analyst and writer, Youssef Diab, warned of the danger of growing immigration rates, especially the youth group, which threatens Lebanon with old age, and makes it an “old country” suffering from a drain on its youth, scientific and technological wealth due to “brain drain.”
Diab stated in a statement to Al-Ittihad that about 70 or 80% of those residing on Lebanese territory would like to emigrate if job opportunities were available to them outside the country, especially in light of the economic collapse and social and living deterioration, in addition to security concerns in the southern regions, and other crises. The acute crisis that drives hundreds of thousands to leave in search of a decent life abroad.
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