In Lebanon, the rich get richer during the fall – Redemption

In addition to the ruins and recession of Lebanon, which is going through the worst economic crisis in its history, a few lucky people live a life of luxury between luxury hotels and the purchase of foreign passports.

In Batroun, 50 kilometers north of Beirut, the smell of prosperity floats. If you walk there, you would forget that Lebanon has been going through for four years, according to the World Bank, one of the worst economic crises since the middle of the 19th century. In this coastal city, Corvettes and Maserati roll around. The beach, highly privatized, has been dominated for three years by luxury hotels.

One of them, Capo, has been sold. “Our clients are hand-picked, he hands over Anjo, site worker. In season it will be necessary to pay 750 dollars per night for a small bungalow. Eight times the minimum wage in Lebanon, which does not prevent the hotel’s customers from being, according to the staff, mainly Lebanese. In a country where more than three-quarters of the population lives below the poverty line, where inflation is in the triple digits, and where savings are illegally withheld by their banks, there seems to be something fishy. How can wealthy elites thrive in the midst of the fall?

“Two Balls”

In the streets of the capital, the difference is even more striking. A.M