How will the port blast affect Lebanon's economy?
With Lebanon already suffering from a devastating economic crisis, many worry about how the port explosion will further worsen an already dire situation.
The port “was the beating heart of the country”, Sami Halabi, director of knowledge and co-founder of Triangle Consulting in Beirut, told MEE on Wednesday.
With foreign currency having dried up, importers had already been struggling to pay for goods, reflected in imports dropping by 50 percent this year. The impact of the explosion on the economy could cause further falls in the lira, which has dropped from LL1,507 to the dollar to over LL8,000 in less than a year, which would make imports even more expensive.
“How will businesses start up again when there are capital controls that don’t let people take money out of banks? And with a fluctuating black market rate for currency? It’s a complete disaster,” said Laury Haytayan, a Beirut-based expert at the National Resource Institute.