“Policy responses by Lebanon’s leadership to these challenges have been highly inadequate,” the report said.
Lebanon’s ruling class has failed to act on the country’s worst emergency in a generation, which was compounded by the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating explosion at Beirut port last August.
This picture shows the grain silos at Beirut port, almost a year after the August 4 massive explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured scores of others, on May 27, 2021. (Joseph EID / AFP)
The International Monetary Fund has offered assistance but the country’s political barons have failed to even form a government that could deliver the reforms on which foreign aid is conditioned.
Lebanon Sinking into One of the Most Severe Global Crises Episodes, amidst Deliberate Inaction
05/31/2021 | 05:18pm EDT
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Beirut, June 1, 2021 - Lebanon is enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression. According to the latest World Bank Lebanon Economic Monitor (LEM) released today, the economic and financial crisis is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top 3, most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century. In the face of colossal challenges, continuous policy inaction and the absence of a fully functioning executive authority threaten already dire socio-economic conditions and a fragile social peace with no clear turning point in the horizon.
Lebanon's economic collapse is likely to rank among the world's worst financial crises since the mid-19th century, the World Bank said in a damning report released Tuesday.The report predicts that Lebanon's economy will shrink by close to 10 percent in 2021 and stresses there is "no clear turning point in the horizon". Lebanon defaulted on its debt.
Lebanon is enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression, with the economic and financial crisis likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top three, most severe crises episodes globally, said the World Bank in a new report.
Tuesday, 1 June, 2021 - 11:30
Anti-government demonstrators block the street with burning garbage dumpsters in front of Lebanon s central bank in this file picture taken on March 16, 2021 - AFP Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanon s economic collapse is likely to rank among the world s worst financial crises since the mid-19th century, the World Bank said in a damning report released Tuesday.
The report predicts that Lebanon s economy will shrink by close to 10 percent in 2021 and stresses there is no clear turning point in the horizon .
Lebanon defaulted on its debt last year, the currency lost around 85 percent of its value and poverty is devastating a country once seen as a beacon of prosperity in the region, AFP reported.