Lebanon's economic depression "is orchestrated by the country's elite" and "has come to threaten the country's long-term stability and social peace," the World Bank said in a press release on Tuesday attached to its latest report on the country.
Lebanon's descent into financial ruin began in 2019, the result of a poorly managed spending binge that pushed up debt, political paralysis as rival factions squabbled and foreign lenders' reluctance to bail the country out unless it reformed. The World Bank ranks the crisis as among the most severe globally since the mid-19th century, devastating a country once seen as a wealthy and liberal outpost in the Middle East before civil war broke out from 1975 to 1990.
