The Central Bank (Banque du Liban) maintains an official rate of 1,500 pounds per dollar, on which the salaries of nine out of 10 citizens with no access to foreign currency are based.

The holidays at the end and beginning of the year brought a slight relief with the entry of fresh money brought by tourists, however, the national currency fell once again on the first days of 2022.

In just four days, two of them trading days, the Lebanese pound fell eight percent and for the first time is trading at 30 thousand per dollar.

The monthly minimum wage of 675,000 LBP is now 22.5 USD, one of the lowest in the world, and only covers 40 liters of car fuel or two tanks of domestic gas.

Year-on-year inflation is 201.07 percent compared to November 2020, while the prices of basic items have multiplied sevenfold since the end of 2019. Specialists note that the Lebanese economy contracted 8.2 percent in 2021, according to a survey by Bloomberg, for a fourth year of decline.

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