Protests, despite Corona ... several dollar exchange rates and a record rise in commodities in Lebanon

Afif Diab - Beirut

Four prices for the exchange of the US dollar in the Lebanese market, a unique case that was not previously recorded in the country. According to the daily bulletin issued by the cutting market in Beirut, the official price of the US dollar officially amounts to 1507 pounds of sales and 1515 purchases, at a time when the parallel market is experiencing another price for the dollar Where he reached yesterday, the amount of 4200 liras. 

The financial crisis plaguing Lebanon and the procedures of banks in organizing the withdrawal of deposits have confused the Lebanese market, as the Bank of Lebanon was forced to intervene, setting three prices to exchange the dollar against the national currency according to three parallel lines, in addition to the official price there are two other official prices. 

Official prices
The central bank set the price of three thousand pounds against the dollar for each depositor whose deposit is less than three thousand dollars and he wants to withdraw his balance and close his account permanently. 

In conjunction with this price, the Bank of Lebanon also set the amount of 3625 pounds against one dollar transferred from outside the country through money transfer institutions, where the value transferred in foreign currency is paid exclusively in the national currency.  

The central bank raised the value of this dollar exchange rate in order to maintain the flow of remittances of Lebanese expatriates to their families, after it had fallen by 55% during the past six months, according to an economic expert for Al Jazeera Net. 

In light of these official decisions in determining the exchange rates of the dollar, activists in the banking business, licensed and irregular, set their own price for the exchange of the dollar, as yesterday, Monday, it reached 4200 pounds for the dollar, as the security forces intervened to suppress what I described in its statements as "illegal banking activities" closed The red wax has a number of banking centers in several Lebanese regions. 

Budget beautification
, economic writer Mohamed Wehbe says to Al Jazeera Net that the three dollar exchange rates are officially set by the governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, and he adds that there is benefit that lies behind the ruler's decisions to multiply the hard currency exchange rates in the country.

He explained that the Bank of Lebanon is working to "beautify its budget" to reduce its falling losses, noting that with the process of multiple dollar exchange rates, the Bank of Lebanon has written off part of its losses indirectly by manipulating the exchange rates of the dollar.  

Wehbe pointed out that the accumulated losses of the central bank are estimated at 42 billion dollars, and that the total losses in the Lebanese banking sector are estimated at about 83 billion dollars, including between 12 to 13 billion dollars, the value of non-performing loans. 

The economist says that this multiplication of exchange rates contributed to price inflation and the unprecedented deterioration of the national currency. 

Chaos
contributed to the chaos in buying and selling dollar operations in a significant decline in the value of local currency and its purchasing power, where this mess coincided with a significant rise in consumer prices.

This led to a number of citizens - despite the warnings of the Corona epidemic - cutting roads in various Lebanese regions in protest against the high dollar exchange rate and the collapse of the national currency. 

The writer, Sarkis Abu Zaid, says that the return of the movement to the street has two sides, the first is a radical movement that wants to change the form of the political and economic management of the country, and another side wants to settle its political accounts with the current government. 

He adds to Al Jazeera Net that the Lebanese no longer bear the fall of their national currency and do not bear taxes. "So we started to witness street movements and manifestations of violence against banks, which is of course caused by the misery that the Lebanese have reached."