Beirut-Lebanon-January 19, 2023

In the largest decline in its value since the beginning of the economic collapse

Which Lebanon has been witnessing for three years and is ranked by the World Bank among the worst in the world since 1850 , the exchange rate touched the threshold of 50 thousand liras against the dollar, according to applications and cashiers

The Lebanese pound on Thursday recorded a record decline against the dollar in the parallel market, coinciding with the failure of the parliament for the 11th time to elect a president of the country, deepening the political and economic crisis even more while no solutions loom on the horizon.

Since the summer of 2019, the lira has lost more than 95 percent of its value against the dollar, while the official exchange rate is still fixed at 1507 lira. This coincides with a severe liquidity crisis and banks stop providing depositors with their money in dollars.

Banks and money transfer companies adopt different exchange rates.

The ongoing economic crisis is considered the worst in Lebanon's history. Over the past three years, more than eighty percent of the population has been below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

According to a recent study by the United Nations World Food Program,about two million people in Lebanon suffered from food insecurity between September and December 2022, namely 700 thousand Syrian refugees and 1.29 million Lebanese.

The political paralysis is making the situation worse, with a months-long presidential vacuum in which the country has been run by a caretaker government unable to take necessary decisions.

Since the end of the mandate of former President Michel Aoun at the end of October, the Lebanese parliament has failed 11 times, most recently today, to elect a president due to deep political divisions, especially since no political group has a parliamentary majority that entitles it to send a candidate.

Two opposition deputies from the parliamentary bloc emanating from the unprecedented protests against the political class that took place in 2019, former Beirut Bar captain Melhem Khalaf and Najat Aoun Saliba, announced the start of a sit-in inside the council until the election of a president.

"We will not go out, we will sleep in the council," Khalaf told reporters, adding: "the approach of disruption, the approach that does not allow us to provide bread and flour to people, must stop.

The failure of the parliament to elect a president so far indicates that the electoral process may take a long time and take several months, in a country where constitutional deadlines are rarely respected.

The authorities have not yet succeeded in implementing reforms required by the international community to provide support in order to stop the bleeding. In April, the IMF announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Lebanon on a three-billion-dollar assistance plan over four years. But their implementation is also linked to the commitment of the authorities to implement prior reforms, including the unification of exchange rates.