As Lebanon awaits the final results of its parliamentary elections, enormous difficulties lie ahead.
The value of the Lebanese pound dropped on Tuesday, reaching 29,500 to the U.S. dollar.
The Lebanese currency was pegged at 1,500 pounds to the dollar for 22 years until decades of corruption and mismanagement led to the country’s worst economic crisis in its modern history starting in October 2019.
Informed political sources had expressed concern that the Lebanese currency could witness a new freefall after the May 15 parliamentary elections.
“The central bank is still intervening so that any surge does not affect the choices of voters in the parliamentary elections," sources had told al-Joumhouria newspaper last week.
Now, the new parliament voted in on Sunday will have to tackle a dire economic crisis and overdue reforms required for international assistance.
Setting up a legal framework to reform and restructure the banking sector will be among the new parliament's major tests, given the shared interests between Lebanon's political and financial elite, said Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs.
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