BEIRUT (Reuters – Lebanon’s currency lost over 15% since the beginning of the year. This puts further pressure on the country, more than two years after a crisis which has pushed many people into poverty and fueled demonstrations.

On Monday evening, protesters marched in various areas across the country to express their anger over the economic crisis and political impasse. To fill up their tanks before the expected increase in fuel prices, cars waited at gas stations.

Abdel-Rahman Shaar runs a central Beirut computer shop. He said, “You wish to believe you can be optimistic, but there’s no hope.” “People are dying from hunger…, the state and dollar (exchange rate), is collapsing.”

Lebanese pounds, which have lost over 90% of their value since 2019, traded at an all-time low of 33,000 dollars to the dollar Tuesday. This was down from 27,400 Dec. 31. Before the collapse of the economy, it had been trading at 1,500.

Political sclerosis by Lebanon’s sectarian leaders has fuelled public frustration.

As a first step to restarting negotiations with the International Monetary Fund in September, a new cabinet has been unable to meet for almost three months because of a dispute about the conduct and investigation into the catastrophic 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Although President Michel Aoun had a series meetings Monday and Tuesday in an effort to secure support for a conference national dialogue to address the crisis, his only supporters so far have been close friends.

At the best times, dialogue is necessary and normal. “In times of hardship, pressure, and bickering it is more than necessary to not stop dialogue,” Mohamed Raad (a Hezbollah lawmaker, a powerful Shi’ite group, stated after meeting President Obama.

Some others, including those from Aoun’s Christian Community, rejected the idea. While some have suggested that talks should wait for parliamentary elections in May, others believe the cabinet must meet first.

Aoun will be ending his six year term as president of Lebanon, which was reserved for Christian Christians in Lebanon’s sectarian system. This adds uncertainty to the political outlook.

(This story rectifies day in 2nd paragraph.