Omar al-Rassi, “Akhbar al-Yawm” agency

Economic source: it is not possible to talk about a State before it controls its borders

As if the expansion of the financial and economic collapse was waiting for the polls to close, to continue to slide further and further into the abyss... Since Saturday, May 14, the dollar has risen about 7 thousand lira, reaching today 32 thousand (31 850 LBP for purchase and 31 950 LBP for sale).

An economic source determines, via the "Akhbar al-Yawm" agency three basic reasons for this rapid deterioration:

- Import of goods in dollars;

- Settling political and moral scores, as it seems that there are those who wanted to respond to the words of the head of the Lebanese Forces party during the beginning of the election campaign when he said that the election of the candidates of the forces contributes to the reduction of the dollar price;

- The greed of traders and speculative bankers, who have a large monetary mass in Lebanese pounds, enabling them to enter the markets as a speculative element, which contributed to the further collapse.

In response to a question, the source says: in absolute terms, there are no dollars in the country, especially since the big difference between export and import, in addition to the fact that Lebanon - despite its collapse - continues to import to meet the needs of Syria and smuggling to it and to Iraq and to other countries...

And here the source reveals that the import of alcoholic beverages has increased a lot in the recent period, at a time when there is no money for the import of drugs for cancer! This is proof that the target is smuggling... He also points out that consumption in Lebanon has decreased in the last two years significantly as a result of the economic crisis, but it is remarkable that the internal need for the dollar is still the same and even more, and this is the best evidence of dollar smuggling, and therefore the gangs are still cohesive and controlling.

In a related context, the source considers that the elections will not change anything at this level, borders must be controlled and smuggling of dollars must be stopped, asking: Where is the State and the security services, and concludes: in any case it is not possible to talk about a State before it controls its borders.