Protesters in Beirut smash banks as Lebanese pound spirals

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Angry protesters in Lebanon have smashed windows and set tires on fire outside two of the country’s biggest banks in Beirut, as the value of the local currency hit a new low and poverty deepens. Lebanon’s economic meltdown and unprecedented financial crisis erupted in 2019 following years of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s rulers. Over three quarters of Lebanon’s population of 6 million has been plunged into poverty, and the Lebanese pound has lost about 97% of its value against the dollar. In less than a week the Lebanese pound’s value against the dollar plummeted to a new low from 66,000 to 80,000 at the black market rate, the exchange rate used for buying and selling most goods and services in the country.