Lebanese pound hits all-time low as deadlock persists

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The value of the Lebanese pound has hit an all-time low, now trading at 50,000 to the U.S. dollar, as the country’s deeply-divided Parliament failed to elect a president for an 11th time. All but 18 of Lebanon’s 118 legislators showed up in Parliament Thursday, with most voting for an outspoken critic of Iran-backed Hezbollah parliamentarian Michel Moawad or casting blank ballots. The cash-strapped country’s national currency, once valued at 1,500 to the dollar has been tanking since late 2019 and has since lost over 90% of its value. The financial crisis has plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty. Experts blame the country’s entrenched ruling elites for decades of corruption and financial mismanagement.