this paper napkin is now worth more than this paper money in fact just one napkin from this
pack is going to cost you 2 000 Lira one thousand lira in Lebanon now equals just
one cent this one it's worthless its currency has lost 98 of its value the past few years and 100
000 is the largest banknote it was equal to 66 USD two years ago but today it's about one
dollar prices in Lira have become insane a cup of coffee at Starbucks went from 5 000 Lira to 380
000 Lira a short Uber ride costs 500 000 a Big Mac at McDonald's more than one million the earlier is
going down but now most people are using dollars in trading in retail now its people are shifting
to a different currency so almost everything you're seeing is written in US dollar now you just
have your prices and dollars in it so much easier this is not really happening by choice but out of
a crisis we have to adapt to it so there's no way of doing in a different way business owners have
given up changing their prices every day or even every hour the dollar rate has been fluctuating
a lot so we decided to stick to Dollars the rent everything got paid dollars but not everyone is
happy about this move toward dollar we want later we don't want dollar it's really bad like I don't
think everyone understands the people don't accept to pay in dollars every country should have its
own economy its own currency a dollarization of a country will impact everyone and everything a lot
of my friends they had to go to other universities because they couldn't afford it anymore especially
that the kids are in dollars now we lost a lot of professors so is lebanon's official currency
going extinct this day will come eventually but what happens when a country starts giving up on
its own currency for another one well America's Dollar Save Lebanon from its economic collapse
it's actually very sad to see all your friends leaving in all your family leaving you end up
alone in Lebanon my dream in life you can say an existential crisis dollarization when a country
uses the US dollar in addition or instead of its own currency so right now I just exchanged 100
US dollars and this is what I got I mean this is almost 10 million Lira 10 million
imagine as dollarization happens when people stop trusting their own currency to be exact
this is 9.4 million all of this for 100 imagine trying to buy a car pay your rent or even buying
a Big Mac just a couple of years ago this would be ten thousand Lira today this will cost you
one million 50 000 Lira you will not see a menu written in Lira anymore because it fluctuates too
much it's harmful for business owners to keep their menu in Lebanese liras every minute the
dollar change imagine you're selling Nutella you're importing it so you're paying a fixed
price in US dollar but your local currency goes from being worth 1500 Lira per one US dollar to 10
000 Lira then twenty thousand then seventy thousand at one point reaching 140 000. you
should ask everyone on which rate are you using now it's 95 maybe after one minute will be 100.
every hour we might change the price you can easily see how you can actually stand to lose
money simply because you want to sell something now that everything is authorized already like
people are barely depending on the Lebanese era even just six months ago every single item in
this store was in Lira and now there's still some stuff in Lira but more and more almost everything
you're seeing is written in US dollar many customers prefer this just because it's easier
one Starbucks coffee is 370 000 Lira and remember this is the biggest banknote so imagine all the
bills you need to get out just to buy a coffee now it's a little bit more stable because we
entered the dollarization process business owners are less stressed you don't get to worried if the
daughter went up or down if you're losing or not now you just have your prices and dollars
and it's so much easier but the US dollar already impacts everything around the world not just Goods
but Services too look at a company like this they're doing maintenance on air conditionings
the services are priced in dollar now if they were to have priced it in Lira and the lira
is fluctuating every day every hour they could actually really be in trouble an app like uber
has gotten so confused about the currency that you can actually bid on the price of your Uber
so here you have it it's suggesting about six dollars or so but I can bid below that at 470
000 Lira up to eight hundred thirty thousand so what happened is that whatever the price that
was quoted in the app the driver wouldn't want to accept that you he would get a request and then
make a phone call and you would actually negotiate it over the phone but now Uber lets you negotiate
it through the app switching from a currency that's undergoing hyperinflation gives promise
for a bit of stability especially at a time where the banks here have collapsed people can still pay
Lira but at least the US dollar isn't constantly fluctuating like crazy their price and dollars
it's easier for both of us the customer can either choose to pay in dollars or in Lebanese but at the
daily rate but what are the pros and cons of dollarizing considering creative and La button
and like I'm totally against it with every problem happens between us and the United States they can
just turn off the flow of money the same as like we can't use Turkish liras we can't use yours we
shouldn't be able to use dollars but imagine suddenly you need to pay for your groceries
and rent in dollar but you're getting a salary in Lira it's harming the people their salaries are
still in the Lebanese Lira now imagine many will convert their monthly salary from Lira to dollar
but it will only equal just two hundred dollars per month so you're making one dollar an hour so
how many hours do you need to work to get some basic items Pepsi one hour mayonnaise two hours
local hazelnut spread three hours Nutella six hours washing detergent seven hours McDonald's
Big Mac meal one day of work a clothing iron three days Nike shoes three weeks a refrigerator one
month of salary a used car three years of salary this is a reality for many especially government
workers who obviously won't be paid in dollars so many here will turn to family abroad who send
money back to Lebanon it's called remittance and Lebanon has become the world's most remittance
dependent country it's said it accounts for more than a half of its total GDP they got their money
from outside and the US Dollars which is good for the government in Lebanon and more and more
salaries are becoming dollarized employers might start by paying you 50 Lira fifty percent dollar
it's very hard to find anyone who's going to accept to work if it's all donorized the wages
are still haven't increased the salaries are really low two years ago if you were lucky you
had family abroad sending you dollars dollars got you relatively far you exchanged to Lira
and you could live well off Lebanon was cheap for anyone with dollars I visited here and would take
a 10 minute Uber ride for two dollars or eat a great lunch for three dollars but Lebanon is
no longer like that and it's partially because of the dollarization they're more expensive now
in dollars than they used to be before everything is getting more expensive in dollars let me start
in Dubai in showing you the price of a chicken platter from a restaurant chain called Roadster
this has locations throughout Lebanon and Dubai in Dubai it costs 13.50 now let me show you in
Beirut the price is 12.50 prices are becoming more expensive even even in dollar than before
the crisis started in 2019 so I've heard that this restaurant actually gives you a really
good exchange rate so I have the option between paying in local currency or in US dollar I'm gonna
pay in US dollar and then I will get my change in Lira but at a really good rate so now essentially
every restaurant every coffee shop has become a currency exchanger but how did Lebanon get into
this financial crisis around Beirut right now you will see Billboards and ads to buy
property in Greece buy a passport to another country or to buy gold everybody's investing
in gold right now because the gold is getting high today Lebanon has no president there are
warrant arrests for its Central Bank Governor its people have lost faith all faith in their
government it's been really hard for everyone I just want to curse these people I've seen
my brothers lost all their money in their bank accounts their life savings I've seen my aunt
who worked so hard as a public sector and they've lost everything the banks here collapsed in 2019
after massive corruption and after the banks put restrictions on withdrawals and transfers
since then Millions have not been able to get their money that was in their Bank some people I
interviewed tell me that any disposable income is just used up immediately what are they gonna save
up their money for they had saved money before and then realized what happened so they might as
well enjoy I think the time that they have and the money that they have instead of being depressed so
why is Lebanon dollarizing over other currencies well for one it is the default Global Currency the
vast majority of global transactions take place in dollar and number two Lebanon has actually always
been somewhat dollarized even before the crisis Lebanese people used to use the dollar I remember
coming to Lebanon in 2015 and that was the first time I had ever seen an ATM that dispensed US
dollar lebanon's most recent hyperinflation comes after Decades of well inflation let's go
back a few decades back then 500 lira it could be somebody's monthly salary today cup of coffee 400
000 Lira but never until now has the country switched its default currency to the dollar
more than a dozen countries use dollar as their official currency and more than 66 countries paid
their currency to the dollar meaning their values will basically be equal regardless of fluctuations
while the dollar dominates the global economy its importance could be under threat with some
calling for the D dollarization but hold on if countries only switch to Dollar when their
currency is failing them can the Lebanese Lira be saved and should it even be saved Dr Lyal Mansour
is an economics professor at Lebanese American University solarization is an illness she tells
me that the only way forward is for Lebanon to give up completely on the Lira and eventually
introduce a brand new currency I suggested a low proposal that parliament in Lebanon in
2020. she says that by having its own currency Lebanon will keep its sovereignty but by pegging
it to the US dollar this will ensure stability you create a new currency but this currency is
n't by US dollar dollar 470 we'll call it Ebony's dollar you can call it bless dollar you can call
it Middle East dollar so aside from a full dollarization Lebanon could in theory ditch
the Lira completely but introduce a new currency one day but there are also more Alternatives here
too we don't think that dollarization is the Silver Bullet it's the best option for now and
it's one that people trust and people understand I meet the founders of Sinbad they've created a
platform for a stable coin in digital dollars we're building a stablecoin wallet that helps
people protect themselves from hyperinflation there are more Lebanese outside of Lebanon than
inside there needs to be a payment Network that reflects the global Network that is Lebanon and
we think the best option for this is blockchain using his platform people can send money for free
all within their digital wallet Sinbad basically focused a lot on the user experience so that we
can make it as simple as just creating an account on Tick Tock but changing an entire country's
Financial system takes time and for now USD dollar is the easiest way to go so will its change toward
dollar end lebanon's crisis our family spread all over the world some of them are in Australia
Egypt we really hope to stay in Lebanon my plan unfortunately leaving unfortunately I would love
to stay here over it it's not a good place anymore do you think the government will fix
the currency no I don't think our government is very bad one night while in Beirut I meet
a bar manager who tells me he just moved back to Lebanon after he moved to Lagos
just a few years ago because of the crisis it's getting paid higher there but I said
no because this is where I grew up and there are others who tell me they will never give
up on this country why are you still here what are you doing here look at the country
goodbye like your like your family and discomforting no matter what happens
LeBron is still just so Lively but I ask many of the people I meet what do you hope
happens we all hope that Lira will become stronger again but now we're in the middle
of the crisis I hope that the people will make moves like two years ago and take down all the
corrupted people in the government I honestly had hope I really want to see that there's
but like I'm not sure if there's there is any hope