Expectations for a 25% decline … Expatriate remittances are a respite for Lebanese mired in crisis

“I never understood how foreign workers flock to Lebanon to work day and night for $ 150, which is an amount we would spend if we were going out to dinner or to do weekly shopping for domestic purposes. Today, after the $ 100 that was spent “On the basis of 150 thousand pounds equivalent to about 850 thousand Lebanese pounds, the picture has become clearer. We are waiting for what my expat brother will transfer to us in US dollars, because our salaries they are no longer worth anything. ” This is how Nada Younes (28 years old) described his current situation, which applies to the majority of Lebanese whose income was damaged by the collapse of the Lebanese pound exchange rate, and who now yearn for an external source of funds, that is , recent transfers in US dollars.

At a time when 90 percent of Lebanese receive their salaries in Lebanese pounds, a large part of young people today seek to emigrate after their salaries are between 100 and 500 dollars, and therefore not enough to more than two weeks due to the high price that has reached insane levels, and another sector is looking for work that with him without having to emigrate for the benefit of regional and international institutions that transfer funds in US dollars, either through banks or companies of money transfer.

About 200 thousand families benefit from external remittances from people who work in exile. And these families eagerly await these transfers, which raised their standard of living, unlike the vast majority of Lebanese. Mohammed Shams El Din, a researcher at the International Information Company, said that official transfers that arrived in Lebanon in 2019 were estimated at $ 7 billion, which is the same amount as the amounts that arrived in cash. Shams El Din said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that these transfers decreased in 2020 by about 25 percent due to crises in countries where Lebanese work abroad.

According to financial and economic expert Walid Abu Suleiman, more than 30 percent of these transfers come from the Americas, that is, the countries of North and South America, followed by the Arab Gulf and then Africa, highlighting their importance for state finances and the Lebanese economy, especially at the current stage, “as it brings fresh dollars into The country that we desperately need due to shortages and our dependence on imports for most consumer goods, which requires foreign currency “He noted that” the entry of large amounts may lead to a slowdown in the deterioration of the Syrian pound exchange rate, even if relatively.

Abu Suleiman explained in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the Central Bank has put its hand in the dollars that came through the remittance companies in recent months, to be used in the support process, specifically the basket of food, but the step negatively affected transfers, causing an increase in the so-called cash economy. In other words, the arrival of the dollar by methods other than traditional ones … that is, from outside the banking system and electronic transfers “, noting that as a result of this process” which was useless, remittances decreased from 140 million a month to about $ 30 million a month, which is 70 percent. Cent “.

Remittances from the Lebanese people have always been the most important source of foreign exchange into the country, in light of the decrease in tourism income that represented around 20 percent of the national product, the decrease in investment and the inflow of capital. , in addition to about 3 billion dollars of exports.

Nada Younes, a young Lebanese woman who works in the accounting field, says that her brother, who works in one of the European countries, used to send his family around $ 700 a month, pointing out in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that, “After the collapse of the lira exchange rate, it has become This amount is worth a lot here, so my mother deliberately saved some of it for what she says are coming (dark days) to the country.”

The small section of employees who work for the benefit of foreign institutions and therefore receive their salaries in dollars, intend to buy real estate and land after these salaries are 8 times higher than they were about a year ago. Danny Murad, 36, says that “after losing confidence in banks, real estate has become the best way to ensure that what we earn is not wasted.” Murad added to Asharq Al-Awsat: “I am directly withdrawing all my salary in US dollars for fear of new circulars from the Banque du Liban that will force us to accept salaries in Lebanese pounds. I am currently trying to buy a property, taking advantage of the current situation, as one of the lucky Lebanese who receive their salaries in US dollars ”.