A record low of 100,000 to the dollar is reached by the lebanese pound: dealers

The Lebanese pound sank to a historic low against the dollar on the parallel market Tuesday, as banks in the crisis-hit country resumed an open-ended strike. The pound, officially pegged at 15,000 to the dollar, was trading at 100,000 against the greenback, a dizzying plunge from 1,507 before the economic crisis hit three years ago. As the country felt the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, a deadly Beirut port explosion in 2020 and Russia's invasion Ukraine, its central bank printed more currency, eroding its value and causing inflation to soar. Currency shortages prompted banks to limit withdrawals, trapping millions of people's savings. The damage of the last few years was magnified by decades of economic mismanagement that allowed the government to spend well beyond its means. Three-quarters of Lebanon's 6 million people have fallen into poverty since the 2019 crisis began, and power cuts and medicine shortages have paralyzed much of public life.