More than 220,000 jobs in the private sector have been shed since mid-October when protests fueled by worsening economic conditions erupted against the political elite, according to a survey in February.
“It’s a social catastrophe,” said Ramzi El Hafez, general manager of InfoPro, the research firm behind the survey. “This is the heaviest one-shot drop since the end of the civil war … There is no end in sight. It is an open-ended crisis.”
A fifth of workers in the hotel industry, a traditional engine of the economy, have been laid off and in the southern city of Sidon, one in five shops has already shut down.
The job losses since October are a major blow to Lebanon’s employed workforce, which the International Labor Organisation estimated at just 1.59 million in a 2019 report.
Importers of critical goods such as medical supplies say their requests for dollars have gone almost entirely unmet since February, leaving many hospitals dangerously low on everything from heart stents to dialysis equipment.
“Almost all the work has come to a halt. We’re unable to do anything,” said Mohamad Sukkar, who owns a contracting company.
His business is frozen, stuck between banks that will not cash cheques and suppliers demanding payment in dollars he cannot get. “We’ve had to close down all the work and we’re not taking up any new work,” said Sukkar.
Hard hit businesses were dealt yet another blow this week as Lebanon ordered malls, restaurants and other venues to close to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, as well as halting flights from the worst hit countries.
