BEIRUT (Reuters), – The economic crisis in Lebanon began in 2019, when financial systems collapsed due to massive state debts. This was made worse by the way that they were funded. Politicians have not yet come up with a plan for rescuing the country.

Is this really the worst situation you can imagine?

The collapse of gross domestic product, which was $55 billion in 2018 and now stands at $20.5 billion, has fallen to an estimate of $20.5 billion by 2021. This is the type of contraction that’s usually associated with wars.

Lebanese pounds have lost over 90% of their value. This has driven up prices in countries that rely on imports and decimated purchasing power. An army soldier’s monthly pay, at one time equivalent to $900 is worth only $50.

According to the U.N. agency ESCWA: Poverty is on the rise in a population of 6.5million, where around 80% of the people are classified as poor. This situation is getting worse. UNICEF says that in September more than half the families of children skipped meals, as compared to just about a third who did so in April.

According to 2020 government data, this amount is almost twice that of the country’s economic output. Even greater are the overall losses due to anticipated sovereign debt writedowns.

Banks in Lebanon have been paralysed. U.S. dollars accounts have been blocked from saving money. The exchange rate for withdrawing local currency can erase up to 80 percent of its value. Victoria Nuland from the United States stated during an October visit in Beirut that Lebanese citizens deserved to be able to see where their money has gone.

Lebanon’s dependence on imported fuel means that it is now facing an energy shortage. Power supplies in Lebanon were scarce even before the crisis. Nowadays, households rarely get more than an hour of power per day. The fuel prices have skyrocketed. A taxi shared ride was popular before the crisis and now it costs around 35,000 pounds.

Lebanese are fleeing in the biggest exodus of their population since the civil war that erupted between the Christian and Muslim communities of Lebanon. Many Lebanese are convinced that their savings are gone and don’t want to be repaid.

– Doctors were among the first to leave. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hospitals have a 50% occupancy rate with approximately 40% of specialists emigrating, or being part-time.

Media and officials talk about Lebanon being a failed state. Michel Aoun was the Christian president who warned the country that it was at “the brink of collapse” in December. After unrest in August over fuel scarcity, a top Sunni priest warned that Lebanon was at risk of total collapse without taking action.