In Lebanon, families need LBP 40 million per month for a decent living: report

With Lebanon facing an ongoing crisis, many members of the society are feeling the consequences of the socio-economic problems.  

This article is originally published in, translated from Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba. 

The Head of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, Bechara Asmar, said in a statement to Al-Anba that the living conditions of the Lebanese are getting worse due to the suffocating economic and financial crisis that the country has been witnessing for more than three years.  

Asmar confirmed that the increases in salaries no longer have value and are not in line with the requirements of a decent life, stating that “if we perform a simple calculation, we see that the cost of living, including food, medicine, electricity, water, transportation, and telecommunications, means that a single family of four people needs at least LBP 40 million per month for a decent and acceptable life.”  

He pointed to the widening social and economic gap and the high poverty rate, which, according to international organizations, has reached more than 70 percent, accompanied by low job opportunities and wages.   

Bechara Asmar revealed to Al-Anba that this is a worrying matter that negatively affects every individual within society, a large part of which depends on the Lebanese abroad, especially in the Arab Gulf, where there are 450,000 workers, in addition to labor in Africa and Europe.

 

These members provide their families with money, in addition to the aid provided by international institutions outside the governmental framework, which is supposed to be subject to monitoring, as is the case with programs in the Ministry of Social Affairs, which the Ministry provides for the poorest families through the Social Protection Program.   

Asmar believed that no sector in Lebanon does not suffer from the collapse due to the economic crisis, which weighed heavily on workers in public administrations and independent interests and prompted them to announce the strike, which expanded to include employees, retirees, military personnel, Lebanese University professors, and professors in public education, all the way to the Ogero employees, water services and government hospitals.  

The Head of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, Bechara Asmar, pointed out that “we are facing an existential crisis if we do not rush to a quick political solution and to pass reform laws to secure international aid. Otherwise, we are moving towards more and more decline.”  

He also announced that more than 800,000 workers in the public and private sectors are awaiting a session of the Council of Ministers to approve decrees to increase the minimum wage in the private sector and to increase the transportation allowance and the productive presence grant in the public sector and various military sectors.  

Bechara Asmar hoped the government would enter the additional salaries collected in the public sector with a solid salary to preserve the remainder of its purchasing value and, in fairness, with a minimum limit for end-of-service compensation in the public sector.