BEIRUT —
Lebanon’s government and central bank are responsible for an unprecedented
financial crisis that has impoverished the majority of the population, the UN
said Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
The report,
drafted by the
UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights,
said that the crisis was “manufactured” by failed government policies and urged
the country to “change course”, days ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled
for May 15.
Since 2019,
Lebanon’s currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value against the US
dollar, prices have risen by more than 200 percent and the poverty rate has
shot beyond 80 percent of the population.
“The misery
inflicted on the population can be reversed with leadership that places social
justice, transparency, and accountability at the core of its actions,” the
report contended.
Special
rapporteur Olivier De Schutter visited the country last November to assess the
impact of the economic crisis.
Nine in 10
people are finding it difficult to get by on their income and more than six in
10 would move abroad if they could, the report said.
“The economic
crisis was entirely avoidable; indeed, it was manufactured by failed government
policies,” the report said.
It accused the
central bank of an “accounting sleight of hand regarding its losses.... that
covertly created a massive public debt... which will condemn the Lebanese for
generations.”
The UN report
comes as Lebanon readies for parliamentary elections on May 15, the first since
the onset of the crisis.
While independent
candidates are expected to improve slightly on their 2018 showing, experts
believe the elections will largely consolidate the status quo in a country
beholden to sectarian politics.
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