Thanks to journalist Roula Douglas for her re-tweet on inflation and tweet on the fees of one single mental health consultation in Lebanon:
The first re-tweet is about how much 100,000 Lebanese pounds (or “Lira“) are trading now against the US$ compared to 2 years ago. Indeed, the Lira plunged to “new all-time low against dollar“, according to L’Orient Today (https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1300576/lira-plunges-to-new-all-time-low-against-dollar.html) where we can read the following: “The Lebanese lira breached its all-time low of LL33,700 to the US dollar on Monday, trading above LL34,000 to the dollar on the parallel market… The lira’s losses have exceeded 20 percent since May 15, the day of the parliamentary elections.“
Ms. Azar-Douglas’ second tweet is in French and it literally means: “A visit to a health professional now costs 1,700,000 Lebanese pounds, more than twice the minimum wage.“
How sad for Lebanon and its citizens who have been going through an economic hell since October 17, 2019 (i.e., the banking sector crash). All this is a sad yet logical outcome of decades of systemic corruption and/or mismanagement of public funds.
Bambi’s other sister, Rania, informed her yesterday that hospitals are going on a 2-day-strike. The movement seems to be directed against the country’s Central Bank and it will take the form of a sit-in (https://libnanews.com/liban-crise-les-medecins-et-les-hopitaux-annoncent-un-mouvement-de-greve-ce-jeudi-contre-la-banque-du-liban/). Only dialysis and emergencies will be accepted on May 26 and May 27 (https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1300476/les-hopitaux-en-greve-les-26-et-27-mai-sit-in-devant-la-bdl.html).
Good luck to Lebanon, which is fighting to save itself from… itself. Even if a recovery plan is implemented today, the economic or healing journey will take many years. Why doesn’t the official Lebanon start the work NOW? What is it still waiting for?
To conclude this post on a musical note, one song comes to Bambi’s mind now. It is in French and it means the “Cedars of Lebanon”. Thanks to the talented Mr. Mario Pelchat (Québec, Canada) for his beautiful and meaningful song. It remains timely…
