Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Aug 24, 2025

Public sector paralysed as Lebanon lurches towards 'failed state'

Public sector paralysed as Lebanon lurches towards 'failed state'

It's a weekday, but 50-year-old Lebanese finance ministry employee Walid Chaar is not at work and hasn't been since June.

He rushes to water the garden at his home in the hills south of Beirut, using the single hour of rationed state power to run the sprinkler. He then phones his mother, who is struggling to get a new passport at a state agency grappling with paper and ink shortages. "The public sector is at its end if we keep going like this," Chaar told Reuters.

Like thousands of state employees in Lebanon, Chaar has been on strike for two months over the collapse of his salary caused by Lebanon's economic implosion - one of the world's worst in modern times.

The public sector paralysis is spreading further - this week judges launched their own protest, while soldiers moonlight to feed themselves and government offices run out of power and basic office supplies.

State infrastructure, already strained by years of unchecked spending, corruption and a preference for quick fixes over sustainable solutions, has reached breaking point.

"We are in a state of collapse," said Lamia Moubayed of the Lebanese Institute of Finance Basil Fuleihan, a research center at the Ministry of Finance.

In parliament, there is no fuel to run a generator for the elevator - so security guards run messages up and down the stairs between workers.

Those registering a new car purchase with the department of motor vehicles were given handwritten notes instead of proper state-issued documents due to paper shortages.

Commanders in Lebanon's security services are looking the other way as troops take on second jobs – typically prohibited, but now unofficially allowed as soldiers’ salaries crash.

The average public servant's monthly salary has dropped from around $1,000 to barely $50 - and counting, as the Lebanese pound loses more value by the day.

That prompted tens of thousands of state employees – from ministries, local government bodies, schools and universities, courts and even the state news agency -- to strike.

This week, 350 Lebanese judges will not show up for hearings, demanding a hike to their salaries, too.

"The judges are hungry," said Faisal Makki, a founder of the country's Judges' Club – the judiciary's equivalent of a syndicate or union.

Makki told Reuters the justice ministry had long been underfunded, so judges had for years been buying paper and ink for their office printers at their personal expense.

"Now I can't do that because it means I couldn't afford to eat. This is definitely a failed state."

'PRIMITIVE LIVES'


In response, the government is rolling out piecemeal policies. In a two-month stop-gap, it agreed to increase daily benefits and provide social assistance to most state workers, effectively doubling take-home monthly pay - to just $200.

But with food prices jumping eleven-fold and many restaurants and even service-providers charging in dollars, the olive branch has not satisfied Lebanon's roughly 150,000 public sector workers.

"No state employee is able to buy a kilo of meat or chicken except maybe once a month. Our lives have become primitive, and we are only buying basic necessities," said Chaar.

Nawal Nasr, head of a public sector employees association, said workers were demanding a five-fold salary increase and help with soaring education and health costs, but that has prompted fears of run-away inflation.

Meanwhile state revenues flounder as tax collection was halted for two months as relevant employees were striking.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has said meeting all of the workers' demands "is impossible and will cause a broader collapse of the situation". Wage increases must come "within the context of a broader financial stabilization plan", he said.

A HOLLOWED STATE


But political factions have yet to reach consensus around such a plan - costing the government some of its highest-skilled workers. Nearly six in 10 state employees are either leaving or planning to leave - a pace not seen since the country's 1975-90 civil war, said Moubayed.

"These are not numbers, these are the best people in the Lebanese state... People we need for the recovery, for implementation of any structural reform plan Lebanon will eventually undergo," Moubayed said.

Chaar, who holds a PhD and heads a top finance ministry tax directorate after nearly three decades in public service, says he is demoralized and wants to leave Lebanon.

The public workers union he is a part of has lost roughly half its members, and its representative for aviation workers recently took a one-way ticket out of Beirut.

To those left behind, it feels like Lebanon's pile-up of problems is finally catching up.

"The past years destroyed all of our efforts," Chaar lamented as he recalled moves to improve governance via IT systems that have since crashed due to the crisis.

"Who will be left?"

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
×