Lebanese are demanding higher pensions and salaries

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They are demanding better wages or an increase in their pensions after the Lebanese currency lost more than 95 percent of its value. “Our salaries are worth nothing, they are no longer enough to feed our children,” one of the demonstrators told DPA news agency.

“We are starving,” protesters shouted during the noon protests. They tried to break through barbed wire leading to the Lebanese government palace and central bank. Lebanese army soldiers and riot police used force to push the demonstrators away from the fences.

Since the end of 2019, the Mediterranean country has been in the worst economic and financial crisis in its history. It is attributed, among other things, to decades of corruption in politics and business. The local currency is in free fall. Inflation is currently around 190 percent. According to the United Nations, three-quarters of the country’s more than six million people live in poverty.

Several unofficial exchange rates now compete in the country. A dollar now costs more than 100,000 lira on the black market. Before the crisis, a dollar was worth 1,500 lira. Public sector employees are allowed to withdraw their dollar wages from their account – but at a significantly lower rate than the black market rate. In everyday life, the black market rate is used for almost all transactions.

(SDA)

Source: Blick