SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 26 April 2024, Friday |

Comprehensive collapses’ series goes on… and attention focused on parliamentary elections’ fate

Lebanon is in complete collapse on all levels. Nutritionally, wheat and flour reserves are sufficient for weeks without an alternative scientific plan. Food prices continue to rise, in light of the greed of traders, and the absence of strict procedural measures. The price of a bundle of bread, for example, increased from 1,500 Lebanese pounds to 13,000 pounds.
On the health level, pharmacies have become relatively with empty shelves, as drug prices rose dramatical after subsidies were lifted. Hospitals, in turn, operate at a quarter of their capacity, and patients are unable to secure hospital expenses.
Educationally, the educational system is in a state of collapse, and schools and universities are in a state of stumbling and confusion. The Association of Full-time Professors at the Lebanese University announced the forcible cessation of academic work, leaving students hostage to the fate of the negotiations between it and the stakeholders once again. Parents of students in private schools and universities are complaining about the high fees, where a percentage of which are now in fresh dollars.
Electrically, the country plunges into complete darkness due to the failure of electricity plans, and the inability of citizens to bear the bill for private generators, as the cost of 5 amperes is expected to reach four million pounds. This crazy rise was offset by a record jump in the price of gasoline, which rose from March 2021 until March 2022 from 34,500 to 463,000 pounds, according to International Information.
Economically, the industrial, commercial and tourism sectors are sounding the alarm, in light of the collapse of the Lebanese pound against the dollar, as it has lost about 95% of its value since the summer of 2019.
Judicially, there are no developments in the investigations into the crime of the Beirut port explosion, while the families of the martyrs carry out mobile sit-ins from time to time in the hope that truth and justice will one day be reached.
Politically, there is no budget, no aid from the International Monetary Fund, and no economic recovery plan. The government witnesses sessions’ suspension for three months, after the Shiite duo prevented its convening, which contributed to the accumulation of crises at all levels and raised the level of political tension…

Today, local and international attentions are focused on the fate of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Will they be held on the fifteenth of May? Or will those concerned postpone it under the cover of legal heresies and security schemes, so that Lebanon collapses even more?

    Source:
  • Sawt Beirut International