Lebanese Protest Record-Low Value of Local Currency

A demonstrator holds Lebanese pound banknotes during a protest organized by Depositors' Outcry, a group campaigning for angry depositors outside Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 25, 2023. (Reuters)

Protesters burned tires and held up handfuls of local currency bills on Wednesday at the entrance of the Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut, furious over the spiraling devaluation of the lira.

Lebanon's economic meltdown, which began in 2019, has cost the lira around 97% of its value. The decline has been particularly steep in January, dropping from 42,000 Lebanese lira per dollar to a new low of 56,000 this week.