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In a new indicator of the deterioration of the Lebanese economy, the Coca-Cola Company in Lebanon announced that it will end its work on Thursday and will fire all its employees.
The decision is based on the impact of the financial crisis that paralyzed the commercial movement in the country, especially the process of importing raw materials for manufacturing and making bank transfers abroad, according to the company statement.
This is the second time that Coca-Cola announces the end of its operations in Lebanon, as it was the first company to announce the suspension of its operations during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990).
But experts see in the measure taken by the global company serious economic consequences that reflect the country experienced in the civil war, which brought a curtain of successive economic crises from which the country is still struggling to get out.
In this, Lebanese economist Hassan Khalil tells Al-Hurra that the same business reasons led the company to close its business again.
Khalil said: “Lebanon is in a state of total collapse, and we are in an unprecedented situation in the state’s history. Purchasing power has become the reserve of very few in society.”
Another disaster, Khalil hopes, is that the middle class will join the ranks of the poor once their savings are exhausted.
The Lebanese expert noted that the economic crisis does not materialize in that the Coca-Cola company only closes its doors, since food is running out of stores, amid a disruption of import operations.
“There is almost no import,” said Khalil, “since investors can no longer buy the raw materials necessary for the industry.”
“I hope that the Lebanese economic system will collapse, and there is no other solution than to change the structure of the system. Lebanon is governed by mafia groups,” Khalil told Al-Hurra.
Despite the current outbreak in Lebanon, the deterioration in economic conditions is not the result of the moment, but dates back to previous years, when it was adopted In the 1990s, Lebanon had an economic vision that depended on services, especially for neighboring countries, and the situation became dependent on the political atmosphere in the region, according to a report by the Carnegie Institute for Political Studies.
The report noted that the government of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri focused on attracting foreign depositors through the high benefits for the reconstruction of the country, which caused the emergence of a rentier economy, without paying attention to the productive sector.
Political negotiation in recent years has also hampered necessary reforms, leading to widespread corruption and persistent instability.
The characteristics of the economic collapse began to appear in Lebanon from the summer of 2019, with the appearance of a parallel market for the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound and the shortage of the dollar, which led hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to take the streets for several months, raising their voices against the political class that accuses them of corruption and blames them for their subsistence crisis. The protests toppled the previous government.
As the economic paralysis worsened, a large portion of the Lebanese overloaded their purchasing power, after the Lebanese pound registered a new record drop in the black market earlier this week to cross the four thousand threshold against the dollar, coinciding with the increase in consumer prices by 55 percent, according to Agence France-Presse. .
And 45 percent of Lebanese, according to official estimates, are currently languishing below the poverty line, after tens of thousands of people have lost their livelihoods or part of their wages in the past six months.
The Lebanese government announced on Thursday that it would seek help from the International Monetary Fund to end the accelerated economic crisis, after unanimously approving a bailout reform plan that it said would form a “road map” to relaunch the wheel. economic amid street anger.
“We will continue to request a program with the International Monetary Fund,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a speech to the Lebanese on Thursday afternoon, describing his government’s plan as a “clear roadmap for managing public finances.” .
