What’s happening with Lebanon’s economy and will it recover?

The ‘WhatsApp tax’ protests, 2019

Although the 2019 protests were initially prompted by a proposed tax on WhatsApp calls, the underlying cause was deep-seated anger over the government’s failed policies, mismanagement, corruption, and the deep economic inequality that resulted.

Public trust in the government had been declining for years, driven by its controversial fiscal policies and the central bank’s failed “financial engineering” in 2016 – complex swaps and issuance of financial instruments to attract foreign currency and inject liquidity into the banking system.

Persistent budget deficits and inflated public sector salaries – boosted by a large salary hike in 2018 – further affected trust.