In one of the lesser-quoted lines from the movie ‘Casablanca’, a young refugee from Bulgaria seeking passage to the US tells the anti-hero, Rick, that back home “the devil has the people by the throat”. That’s a pretty accurate description of the current plight of the majority of people in Lebanon who have been subjected to a catalogue of national catastrophes since 2019. And the answer: an IMF (International Monetary Fund) bailout widely prescribed as the only solution.
The UN reported this year that 82% of Lebanon’s population is suffering from multidimensional poverty meaning that they are subjected to deprivations in one or more of the following indicators: access to health insurance, electricity, public utilities (water, sanitation etc), internet access and employment.
The reason is simple: the World Bank estimates Lebanon’s economy to have experienced one of the ‘most severe global crises episodes’ in the past 150 years. Lebanon’s GDP has shrunk from $55bn in 2018 to an estimated $33bn in 2020 with GDP per capita falling by 40%.
