Ahmed Atef (Beirut, Cairo)
Prices and inflation rates in Lebanon have risen to record levels, especially in the food sector, with the intensification of the economic crisis and the collapse of the value of the local currency.
According to the “Beirut Merchants Association” index, inflation rates increased between 2022 and the first half of 2023, by 325% in the food sector.
Inflation rates increased between the beginning of 2022 and the first half of 2023, by 620.80% in the telecommunications sector, 450.97% in the tobacco sector, 385.54% in the restaurants and hotels sector, 373.90% in the health sector, and 358% in the health sector. 91% in the clothing and shoes sector, 358.45% in the furniture and household equipment sector, 352.34% in the foodstuff sector, 300.75% in the transportation sector, 210.60% in the recreation and culture sector, and 193.02% in the education sector. . The head of the Consumer Protection Association, Zuhair Berro, considered that Lebanon is in a state of continuous collapse, and no radical solutions have ever been put forward to get the country out of this collapse.
Figures from the World Bank for Food Security showed that Lebanon recorded the highest nominal inflation rate in food prices around the world between February 2022 and the same month of 2023. Lebanese experts and analysts specializing in international law and economics described the possibility of Lebanon being included on the “gray list.” » The Financial Action Task Force for Regulated Countries is a new blow to the deteriorating economy in light of political instability and a presidential vacuum.
The Lebanese political economy expert, Adel Afiouni, explained that the financial sector in Lebanon has been subjected to many strikes for years, amid the negligence and denial of all concerned, including political authorities, supervisory bodies, and bank managements.
Afiouni added, in a statement to Al-Ittihad, that placing Lebanon on the “gray list” further complicates matters, and deals an additional blow to the deteriorating banking sector as a result of the prevailing chaos and the absence of any real reform, the absence of any rescue plan to restructure and organize it, and radically reform the regulatory bodies.
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