Lebanon’s embattled currency has hit a new low, trading at an unprecedented 100,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the black market as the crisis-hit country’s banks went back on strikeBEIRUT -- Lebanon's embattled currency hit a new low Tuesday, trading at an unprecedented 100,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the black market as the crisis-hit country's banks went back on strike. The pound has kept sinking since Lebanon's financial meltdown erupted in 2019, following decades of rampant corruption and mismanagement by the country's political and financial elite. In late 2019, Lebanese banks imposed informal capital controls, restricting cash withdrawals from accounts to avoid folding amid currency shortages. Last month, Lebanese commercial banks went on an open-ended strike and angry protesters took to the streets, smashing windows and setting tires on fire outside two of the country’s biggest banks in Beirut. On Tuesday, the banks shuttered doors again to customers and slammed Lebanon's judiciary for not “correcting flaws” in a recent lawsuits against them.

Source: ABC News March 14, 2023 12:31 UTC