Losing a seat belt Phalanges

Lea Al-Azzi wrote in the Al-Akhbar newspaper:

It may seem “shameful” to highlight the collapse of the middle class in Lebanon, in the presence of statistics on a poverty rate of 55%. However, the importance of this class is that it is the “engine” of the economy. Its disappearance means falling demand, consumption and growth, and the surrounding circles will be negatively affected with the closure of companies and the dismissal of workers. The most dangerous thing for him is his ability to migrate, which deprives Lebanon of its human capital.
The Lebanese middle class, the post-civil war version, is losing its security “umbrella”. A balanced class of components of the middle class joined the ranks of those affected by the economic policies, especially with the end of the “glory” of the 1,500 pounds, the high cost of consumption, the confiscation of the Bank of Lebanon and banks of US dollars, and the restrictions it imposed on the withdrawal of Lebanese pound accounts. A free collapse faces this class, which some consider a “social safety belt,” according to economist Roy Badaro. She was the one who was, to a certain extent, a fraternity with the rentier and high-interest system, for which she “became aware” of her damages after being hit by her strikes, and was the beginning of the “scream” in the uprising of 17 October, of which this class was one of its pillars, especially in the cities: Beirut. , Tripoli, Jounieh.
In the report that the “United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia – ESCWA” finalized last August, a paragraph was devoted to “the implications for middle-income and middle-class people”, revealing the results of “A great challenge for Lebanon to preserve its demographic character, which is dominated by income earners.” The average … The real challenge is that those with upper middle and middle incomes, who represent most of the country’s human capital, will have no choice but to emigrate. According to published figures, the middle class (a person earns between $ 14 and $ 27 per day) has dropped from 45.6% in 2019 to 35.2% in 2020, and the upper middle class (a person earns between $ 27 and $ 34 per day) is down from 11.5%. In 2019 to 4.5% in 2020. Those who earn more than $ 34 a day, their percentage has also decreased from 15% in 2019 to just 5% in 2020.
Why “worry” about the situation of the middle class in a society where the poverty rate has reached 55%? “Because it is the basis of the vitality of the economy, at a cultural, educational, housing and consumer level, in addition to dedicating itself to political work and nurturing it, in exchange for a rich class allied with the powers of power”, says Nasser Yassin, professor of politics and planning at the American University of Beirut, citing the role he played. Professionals, teachers, doctors and lawyers on “October 17”. For Yassin, “it is true that the lower classes are suffering a lot, but the decline of the middle class means the loss of a part of Lebanon’s identity.”
The executive director of the Foundation for Research and Consulting in Beirut, Kamal Hamdan, in his interview with Al-Akhbar, also refers to the role of the middle class as “the most important pillar of economic growth. The bigger its circle includes a large number of people, greater demand for production and consumption and different quality of life. ” So do we consider members of the middle class to be the producers of society? Hamdan responds that the middle class is defined “according to the level of income, which can result from fixed wages, self-employment, transfers from abroad or savings and benefits. A small percentage of the non-producers of the total middle class ”.
Before the collapse of the exchange rate of the lira against the dollar, “the family that has an income between $ 2,500 and $ 7,000, with an average of 1.6 activists inside,” was included in the middle class, says Hamdan and explains that the crisis affected everyone: freelancers, department heads, university professors, judges. Doctors, engineers … even the owners of establishments that either closed, creating unemployment for their workers, or incurred losses that impose fundamental adjustments to the market, which will affect all those related to the interests of the middle class. In short, “all those with income in the pound are in a state of fragility, with varying degrees between them.” A social shock will occur when subsidies to basic products that are not in line with a state’s social protection strategy are eliminated. “The poverty rate will increase to 60%. This increase will come from the lower middle class, which is directly above the upper poverty line ”.
According to Hamdan, there is still no study “in the scientific sense that determines the type and size of the collapse routes”, but changes can be felt from “simple” examples, such as that it is possible to “abandon a visit to the dentist , maintain the car and replace mobile phones in case of breakdown. ” As Nasser Yassin mentions, a gradual upward movement toward “going from private school to public school, replacing the private medical hospital at the expense of the Ministry of Health, and the opposite exodus from the city to the countryside with rising property prices, both for sale and for rent “. In some aspects, this is manifested in the impossibility of starting repair and repair work on the houses damaged by the explosion in the port of Beirut, for economic reasons and the absence of facilities on the part of the banks, despite numerous statements of “solidarity campaigns” on his part.
It is not the first time that “the collapse of the middle class” has been mentioned in Lebanon, because in every crisis it is at the center of a storm. In the March 25, 2019 issue of the Capital Supplement, Ghassan Dibeh, head of the department of economics at the Lebanese American University, wrote about “the decline of this class in favor of the concentration of wealth and income in the hands of a few few.