Lebanon is on the verge of becoming a failed state after an unprecedented economic collapse
, arguing that the inquiry was still under suspension and ordering the police not to abide by Judge Bitar’s arrest orders.
There was a time when Lebanon was considered the jewel of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the 1960s and into the 1970s, Beirut was known as the “Paris of the Middle East” – a stable, beautiful, liberal seaside party town with a thriving banking sector and a dynamic cultural life. Les Caves du Roy, a nightclub housed in Beirut’s Hotel Excelsior, was considered one of the hottest clubs in the entire region.
While there are a thousand reasons for Lebanon’s collapse, including the pandemic, the Port of Beirut explosion and the refugee crisis – there are some 1.5 million Syrian refugees in the tiny country – the banking disaster lies at the heart of the economic calamity. Since then, every economic number has gone in the wrong direction. The World Bank says GDP per capita fell 36.5 per cent between 2019 and 2021. The banks have ceased lending and no longer attract deposits. More than half the population now lives below the poverty line, and unemployment has almost tripled, to 30 per cent. Inflation is running at more than 170 per cent, and government tax revenues have dried up.
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