Karim Daya was one of the last of his friends and family still in Lebanon. Now t...
BEIRUT - Karim Daya was one of the last of his friends and family still in Lebanon. Now that his job is gone, he’s packing his bags.
His feelings reflect the frustration of many young Lebanese caught in the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Employees at 15 companies told Reuters they had been laid off or taken a pay cut in the past month, along with dozens of colleagues.“This economic choking reached a point where it erupted,” said Pierre Boutros, an engineer who runs a contracting company and a furniture factory. “It’s a miracle that we’ve made it this far.”
If the crisis drags on, Boutros may freeze work “for a month or two or three until it is solved,” he said. “Then dust ourselves off and get to work again.” The hard currency squeeze in turn has stymied trade, pushed people to stash cash at home, and pressured the Lebanese pound’s 22-year-old peg to the dollar.
With a tiny industrial sector and few natural resources, the economy relies on imports and cash injections from Lebanese abroad, which have fallen in recent years, pressuring central bank foreign currency reserves.Lebanon creates six times fewer jobs than its labor market needs and exports more graduates than any country in the Arab world, a 2019 government study said.
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