The Lebanese crisis may rank among the three worst crises in the world in 150 years business and economic news

The World Bank said on Tuesday that Lebanon’s economic and financial crisis may be one of the three worst crises in the world since the mid-19th century.

The latest Lebanese economic monitoring report released by the World Bank on Tuesday stated that Lebanon’s financial and economic crisis may be one of the three most serious crises in the world since the mid-nineteenth century.

Lebanon has fallen into a crisis at an alarming rate that may eventually become one of the three worst crises in 150 years. The report pointed out that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the total output of goods and services, plummeted from nearly 55 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 to an estimated 33 billion U.S. dollars last year, and per capita GDP fell by about 40%.

The World Bank said: “This cruel and rapid contraction is usually related to conflict or war.”

The report showed no mercy to the criticism of Lebanon’s political elite, accusing the country’s authorities of deliberately making inadequate policies for the country’s complex crisis (including the rapid deterioration of economic and financial conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic and the port of Beirut last year) The reaction exploded.

According to the report, inaction is not due to lack of knowledge or high-quality recommendations, but failure to reach agreement on effective policy measures and political consensus to defend “a bankrupt economic system that has long benefited from a few people.”

“Catastrophic” social impact

The report is also unambiguous on the social impact of the crisis, warning that the “horrible” situation that may push more than half of the population below the poverty line may become “catastrophic”.

According to a telephone survey conducted, the purchasing power of the Lebanese pound has fallen sharply-which is the remuneration of most workers in the country-causing more than 40% of households to report “a challenge in accessing food and other basic needs” at the end of last year Provided by the United Nations World Food Program.

At the same time, the unemployment rate in the United States has soared from 28% in February 2020 to nearly 40% at the end of the year.

The World Bank warned: “The terrible socio-economic conditions may lead to systemic state failure and have regional and potentially global consequences.”