The Economist's 1843 Magazine has commissioned two long-form feature stories describing different facets of the Lebanese economic collapse.
One will focus on the recent spate of bank raids by depositors to 'steal' back their own money because withdrawals have been severely limited as a result of the banking crisis. More than a two dozen raids have now been carried out; some by people desperate to pay for relatives' life saving surgeries. Under siege, the country's banks have almost entirely closed their doors to customers. Who is responsible? And what can be done in the face of political stasis?
The second will focus on the crisis in living costs in the northern city of Tripoli. Lines at food banks are growing; people are selling their refrigerators and mobile phones to pay for electricity from private generators (state electricity is down to one hour a month), leaving their children in orphanages because they cannot afford to feed them and risking their lives on rubber dinghies across the Mediterranean to escape the misery. Crime and violence is increasing. The famous Lebanese resilience is at breaking point.
