Lebanon’s banks stuck in reverse

Lebanon’s banks, which once powered the economy by sucking in billions of dollars of deposits from abroad, are shedding staff, watching loan books shrink and chasing liquidity to stay afloat.

Banks are facing their biggest challenge since a 1975–1990 civil war, a conflict which by some measures gave the lenders a smaller hangover. This crisis has left the industry nursing losses worth $83 billion, according to a government report last year, dwarfing Lebanon’s 2019 economic output of $55 billion

Job losses have accumulated amid a political deadlock which has left Lebanon without a new government, after the cabinet resigned in the aftermath of a massive Beirut port blast last year that ripped through a swathe of the capital.