If I may ask, did the tragic explosion in Beirut back in 2020 have a significant long lasting impact that contributed to the collapse or what it about this bad prior to that as well?
The explosion came in a really bad time, and made things quite worse. Other than the destruction of half the capital, it also closed the main port for trade. And the tragedy pushed more people to lose hope and leave.
So did the pandemic. Salt to the wound, as people were unable to travel anymore (to get to their jobs, as most of the jobs are abroad).
So did the Syrian refugee crisis due to Syria's war (right next to the border). Lebanon has about 30% of its current population made of Syrian refugees, so there is less resources to go around for everyone. No country in a perfect economy could support that much influx of refugees at once.
The explosion and COVID acted as a double tap kill shot
One cannot imagine the level of misery created by both events. Its a country that went from Greek standards to scrapping by in true Somalia-level collapse
