The collapse of the Lebanese currency worsened as the dollar exceeded 33,000 lira in Tuesday's trading, amid a political uncertainty after the Lebanese parliamentary elections, which yielded unexpected results as Hezbollah allies retreated.
The lira lost about 90% of its value against the dollar, according to Sam Heller, a specialist researcher, according to Foreign Affairs magazine, that GDP fell by 60% and nearly 80%, of Lebanese slipped below the poverty line, including 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, which pushed hundreds of thousands of people to leave the country.
In January, the dollar's exchange rate reached a record high of 33,500 Lebanese pounds against the dollar.
The Central Bank of Lebanon said last Wednesday that it would continue to allow banks to buy dollars without a ceiling through its banking platform until the end of July.
The purchases, which began in January, could take place as usual and without modification, in response to rumours that he had suspended purchases following Sunday's parliamentary elections.
The policy has been criticized as unsustainable for using limited U.S. dollar reserves to support the local currency, which has lost more than 90% of its value since the economic crisis began in 2019, Reuters reported.
The currency reached 30,000 liras to the dollar on Tuesday, down several thousand pounds since Sunday's elections.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers it the "only hope" for Lebanon if it can help alleviate widespread poverty.
The UN special envoy for poverty, Olivier de Schuter, said last November that Lebanese government officials seemed to be living in another world, away from the difficulties faced by most of the population.
The Lebanese economy collapsed two years ago, food prices jumped by 11, and more than three quarters of the population was below the poverty line.
The World Bank described the crisis as one of the worst since the dawn of the industrial revolution, stressing that the country's elite is responsible for this "deliberate recession."