We have entered price chaos once again, with "a pound" of coffee recorded at 72,000 LBP in Nabatieh, which still registers the highest inflation rate in Lebanon. Traders and "dokanji" (small shop owners) are racing to set their goods' prices according to the dollar rate of 40,000 LBP, exploiting the lack of oversight and the few inspectors from the Ministry of Economy who work on a piecemeal basis. The "dokanji" of Nabatieh and its villages are in a race over prices, with astronomical differences haunting the poor. One vendor says that a box of lettuce in Sidon is 40,000 LBP while it reaches 80,000 LBP in Nabatieh—this is just a glimpse of the rampant inflation that controls the market of the city and its villages. The dollar at 37,000 LBP has provided traders with cover to raise prices in line with the 40,000 LBP mark, as there is no one to monitor or inspect.
The economic upheaval in the Nabatieh region is unprecedented, battling against inflation, the dollar, medicine, gasoline, bread, and all sectors suffering from an unprecedented decline. Sales transactions have stopped awaiting the stabilization of the dollar, with many industries, including manakish (a type of Lebanese flatbread) bakeries, unable to continue after flour prices reached 35 dollars for a 50-kilogram sack, meaning that the dough could reach 10,000 LBP and a zaatar manakish could become 25,000 LBP, which translates to "goodbye manakish," and the poor man's breakfast will become exclusively for the wealthy.
Baker Ali does not hide his intention to close his bakery until clarity is achieved, as he can no longer afford to buy flour sacks at 35 dollars—"who will buy a zaatar manakish for 25,000 LBP?" The ministry's decision has destroyed their livelihoods, while prices are squeezing the pockets of the poor. Price chaos has not moved the Ministry of Economy, remaining the biggest absentee from the price massacre in the supermarkets and shops of the region. Even a box of cheese has become inaccessible for many families, soaring to 30,000 LBP from 12,500 LBP just a few days earlier. Meanwhile, coffee recorded "a pound" at 72,000 LBP in the mini-mall, while the same item did not exceed 52,000 LBP in a popular store.
As soon as the dollar rose, commodity prices surged to unprecedented levels. Gas stations closed their doors, the movement of people on the roads came to a halt, and manakish bakeries threatened to shut down. Vegetable and fruit prices increased once again, all while a crisis of electricity, water, and subscription fees is gearing up to explode at the beginning of the month—yet there is no sign of Nabatieh's representatives since the elections ended.
It feels as if history is repeating itself from two years ago, with the same crises and the same disasters, except for a minor difference: the dollar then did not exceed 15,000 LBP, and the subsidized flour was active. Today, it has surpassed 37,000 LBP and is heading towards 40,000 LBP, with all goods tending towards "dollarization." How will citizens endure when they barely earn two million LBP, and what is the anticipated scenario?
The "dokanji" has entered the crisis scene, making enormous profits these days, exceeding 15 million LBP monthly, having previously made no more than a million and a half LBP when the dollar was at 1,500 LBP. As Abu Ali states, the crisis has returned profits to them, just like most traders, while only public and private sector employees are suffering—their salaries have collapsed. It is true that inflation is rampant in the market, but everyone is buying and selling "in dollars," while employees still receive their salaries in Lebanese lira and buy in dollars.
Ferah could hardly believe the price differences between stores; coffee registered 72,000 LBP in the mini-mall while another mini-market sold it for 52,000 LBP, a difference of 20,000 LBP. These gaps in prices are widening these days, with every supermarket and shop "opening according to its own account," as Ferah remarks, asking, "Where is the Ministry of Economy regarding what is happening now?"
While citizens have not yet absorbed the 37,000 LBP dollar rate, the ministry delivered a crushing blow to poor families by canceling the large bread bundle from circulation and raising the price of the medium bundle to 16,000 LBP, meaning a family that needed two large bread bundles now has to buy four at a rate of 64,000 LBP daily, which equals the daily wage of a Lebanese worker. Is the ministry aiming to completely eliminate the poor man's meal?
The ministry's decision was not surprising as it prepares to lift support definitively from the bread bundle, which could approach 40,000 LBP. It provides bakeries with morphine doses just to endure at least two weeks at most. The myth of subsidized flour quickly unraveled, and available flour is not subsidized, indicating that the ministry will eventually bend to the demands of bakery owners to lift subsidies on everything except for thieves and corrupt individuals.
