The owner of the restaurant, Antoine Haddád, has been in business for 35 years. But now he has hopes, as Lebanon is facing one of the deepest financial crises in modern history. The difference between the current crisis and the past, such as the Lebanon civil war of 1975-1990, according to Haddad, is that the end is now in sight.
“You used to hope that the war would end tomorrow, that we would do this and that and return to where we were. But now there is no hope, “remarked the restaurateur. “Those in power have promised us that we will have a lot of money, we really have a lot to play,” he said sarcastically, referring to the fact that due to the currency slump, a basic stack of banknotes is now needed for basic purchases in Lebanon.
Haddad, whose small restaurant has been accepting customers since 1984, noted that for the same money it can now buy only a tenth of the olive oil it once did.
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Lebanon will face general elections next year in March. The government is seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund and has tripled the staff transport contribution to alleviate the financial burden that Lebanese face. However, the amount of the minimum wage and most salaries were not adjusted.
The owner of the pub, Músa Jaakúb, is also surprised by the amount of money that now costs him to run the business. “I have never held so much money,” he said, recalculating about ten million Lebanese pounds, which was about 145 thousand crowns before the crisis, but now it is less than 11 thousand crowns at the market rate. Such an amount used to be enough for several months of operation of the pub. At present, however, only a few passes are enough, Jaakúb remarked.
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The owner of the grocery store, Runi Bu Rashid, has changed the way cash is deposited at the cash register, as there are now significantly more banknotes and coins are almost no longer visible. “I hesitate about how much money to carry in my pocket when I leave. Sometimes I wear a million or 1.5 million … but I mean, they’re worthless, “he said. A single bill in a restaurant can cost more than some Lebanese.
“God help those who have no income or are unable to deal with things,” said Ali Jabir, who works in the private sector.
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