Jamal Ibrahim Haidar

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La economía política libanesa está paralizada. Los líderes políticos del país no asumirán el compromiso con las reformas económicas que este necesita, porque perderían poder. Por buenos motivos, la mayoría de los análisis publicados sobre el Líbano hacen referencia a problemas como la corrupción y la decadencia institucional, pero a la mayoría de los comentaristas se les escapa el papel que desempeñan las partes interesadas externas, que no encuentran demasiados motivos para promover cambios al statu quo disfuncional.

Aunque las potencias extranjeras con intereses en el Líbano suelen pronunciarse a favor de las reformas, carecen de incentivos adecuados para respaldar su retórica con acciones concretas, porque eso sencillamente debilitaría su propia influencia en el país.…  Seguir leyendo »

Lebanese anti-government protesters shout slogans during an Oct. 17 rally in downtown Beirut to mark the second anniversary of the beginning of the protest movement. (Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Last week in Beirut, gunmen opened fire on protesters objecting to the pace of the investigation into the city’s port explosion more than a year ago. Six people were killed and dozens wounded in deadly street fighting that echoed the country’s past civil war. Just a week earlier, Lebanon’s electricity grid collapsed for four hours a day — the latest visible sign of Lebanon’s economic crisis, which the World Bank called one of the “most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century.”

How bad is it? In March 2020, the government defaulted on its foreign debt. Over the past two years Lebanon’s lira lost more than 90 percent of its value.…  Seguir leyendo »

Lebanon is facing its gravest economic and political crisis since the end of civil war in 1990 — and the situation was already dire before the pandemic hit. In early March, the country defaulted on $1.2 billion in foreign debt, the resulting free-fall of the Lebanese lira adding to a deep financial crisis.

Lebanon now faces a major food crisis, and a shrinking middle class. The International Monetary Fund has indicated it is ready to help Lebanon deal with its urgent economic challenges. But the government has been slow to respond to this offer of assistance.

How did Lebanon’s economy collapse, and what happens now?…  Seguir leyendo »