A Collapsing Society: The Urgency of a Social Protection Floor

Georgia Dagher, Sami Zoughaib

Lebanon is mired in a cataclysmic and seemingly endless downward spiral which began in 2019, when its national currency began to steadily depreciate. Fleeting optimism during the uprising of late 2019 has become little more than a distant memory, as income and wealth are now decimated by the currency shock and severe economic recession. Gone are the colorful images and footage of crowds chanting and demanding systemic political and socioeconomic change. In their stead, innumerable tales and anecdotes of misery have flooded our screens and airwaves—after all, the multidimensional poverty rate stood at 82% in 2021, and has likely worsened since then.

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