A Lebanese government decision to raise fuel prices and VAT has angered citizens across the country. The latest price hike adds $3.50 on every 20 litres of petrol and a 1% increase on goods, and comes at a time when people are already under major financial strain. The Lebanese have been reeling ever since 2019's unprecedented economic collapse, from which the country has never fully recovered.
The timing of the price hikes couldn't be worse, with May parliamentary elections fast approaching. The situation is even more dire when taking into account Lebanon's reliance on foreign assistance for rebuilding after last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel, which left large swathes of the country in ruins. The aid, of course, comes with strings attached—a set of political and economic reforms that have yet to be implemented, even though many of them were agreed upon last year.
Chronic political feuds are now bound up with the absence of any vision for Lebanon's future, a deep reluctance to open the vast corruption files that yield spoils for the most powerful political actors, and a determination to avoid provoking the sensitivities of one camp or another.
