Lebanese pound hits new low as political deadlock persists

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The value of the Lebanese pound has hit a new low, now trading at 50,000 to the dollar, as the country’s deeply divided Parliament failed to elect a president for the eleventh time. All but 18 of Lebanon’s 128 legislators showed up in Parliament on Thursday. Most voted for lawmaker Michel Moawad, a critic of the militant Hezbollah group, or cast blank ballots. The cash-strapped Lebanon’s currency, once valued at 1,500 for $1, 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.