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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanon Adopts ‘Dollarization’ as Currency, Economy Crumble

Store displays advertising in Arabic that reads "Italian clothes and shoes for 9.99 $" in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

When Moheidein Bazazo opened his Beirut mini-market in 1986, during some of the fiercest fighting in Lebanon’s civil war, he didn’t expect it to thrive. But several years later, he had shelves full of food and needed 12 employees to help him manage a bustling business.

Those days are over. Bazazo now mostly works alone, often in the dark to reduce his electric bill. Regular customers are struggling to make ends meet, and as they buy less so does he, leaving some shelves and refrigerators bare.

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