by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon usually holds great celebration during the Christmas season. Starting from November of every year, almost every street in the country gets decorated with shiny Christmas ornaments.
But this year, burning tires, tear gas canisters and a big crowd of people shouting slogans amid protests have replaced festive parades.
Malls and traditional shopping streets that were usually crowded at this time have been witnessing lower purchasing activity compared to previous years.
"I haven't seen people carrying any shopping bags so far," said Maya, a lady walking with her family in City Center Mall near Hazmieh in Beirut.
Another local resident Rana said this year she will not buy any gifts since she has been paid half a salary due to the complicated economic situation faced by the company she works for.
"It is a pity that I have seen a lot of great offers but I do not have the financial means to buy anything unfortunately," she said.
Fadi, a father of three, said he had to tell his kids Santa will not visit this year due to the security problems in the country.
"How can I explain to my kids that I am not able to withdraw money from the bank to make end meets? I had to tell them that Santa will deliver their gifts when the situation improves," he complained.
Lebanon has been witnessing two months of nationwide protests aimed at changing the current political system which has failed over the past years to achieve economic prosperity.
Protests caused complete paralysis in the country with businesses being incapable of operating properly.
On the other hand, the economic slowdown and the drop in cash injections from the Lebanese abroad reduced the central bank's foreign currency reserves, leading to a shortage in dollar for both businesses and individuals.
As a result, banks had to impose restrictions on withdrawals in U.S. dollar with a limit of up to 300 dollars weekly which caused inconvenience for individuals and businesses since 73 percent of deposits in Lebanon are in dollar.
Also, the demand for dollar has created a parallel market in which the dollar is being sold on the black market at more than 2,000 Lebanese pounds which is higher than the official exchange rate.
Hence, the purchasing power of the Lebanese people who get paid in Lebanese pounds has dropped remarkably.
Adnan Rammal, representative of the trade sector in the Economic and Social Council, told Xinhua that the purchasing power of people has dropped by at least 35 percent after the increase in the price of U.S. dollar to the Lebanese pound.
"These people, for instance, will not offer gifts as they used to. If they insist on buying gifts, their value will go down," Rammal said.
He added that a big number of people have lost their jobs while others have seen their salaries cut into half.
"Even people who are financially capable of buying gifts will think twice before making any purchase because they cannot withdraw money from banks like they used to," he said.
Rammal noted that all of these circumstances led to a drop in purchasing activity by people all over Lebanon by 50 percent this year compared to a year earlier, saying that the country is expected to register the closure of over 2,000 businesses since September until the end of this year. Enditem
