SPECTATOR
What happens when your currency collapses?
by Paul Wood
June 23, 2021

I’m a millionaire. A million in crisp, new bills is stacked up on the table in front of me. Unfortunately, it’s Lebanese lira and cost me about $75 a week ago. It’s already worth only $65, and by the time you read this, it will be worth even less. The Lebanese currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value over the past 18 months and is continuing its steady decline. It would be foolish to keep more than a few days’ spending money on hand, so everyone has a moneychanger. Mine is Mohammed, who pops round on his moped with ever-fatter stacks of notes with ever more zeros on them. The currency grows physically as it shrinks in value. He passes over a wad of cash and says, smiling: ‘Our leaders are stupid and corrupt.’ READ MORE

MEDIA LINE At Least 20 Injured in Violent Lebanese Protests Lebanon on Sunday continued its perilous spiral out of control as large clashes between protesters and police led to 20 injuries and ever-growing unrest. Demonstrators in Tripoli, desperate for fuel and basic supplies, tried to storm government buildings and the central bank, only to be repelled by security forces’ rubber bullets and stun grenades.