Lebanon: Retailers to Shut Down amid Debilitating Crisis

Anti-government protesters carry Lebanese flags and burn tires as they block the main highway north of Beirut during a protest over deteriorating living conditions. EPA
Anti-government protesters carry Lebanese flags and burn tires as they block the main highway north of Beirut during a protest over deteriorating living conditions. EPA
TT
20

Lebanon: Retailers to Shut Down amid Debilitating Crisis

Anti-government protesters carry Lebanese flags and burn tires as they block the main highway north of Beirut during a protest over deteriorating living conditions. EPA
Anti-government protesters carry Lebanese flags and burn tires as they block the main highway north of Beirut during a protest over deteriorating living conditions. EPA

Major retailers in Lebanon announced on Thursday they will temporarily shut down in the face of an increasingly volatile currency market and their inability to set prices while the Lebanese pound plunges against the dollar.

Later in the day, owners of the businesses rallied in central Beirut to denounce the government’s inability to handle a deepening economic and financial crisis, and urging others to join them.

“The company is losing and ... (the customers) think we are robbing them," Samir Saliba, owner of sportswear retailer Mike Sport, told The Associated Press. “We want a clear economic policy to know how to move forward and not buy our dollars from the black market and be humiliated with the brokers and money changers."

The protesters called on the government to resign and urged other stores to join their protest shutdown.

The Lebanese pound recorded a new low Thursday, selling at nearly 10,000 for a dollar and maintaining the downward slide that saw the national currency lose about 85% of its value over the past months.

Despite government and central bank efforts to regulate the foreign currency rate, a parallel market has thrived and inflation is soaring as the dollar becomes increasingly scarce.

Amid the tumbling pound, prices and inflation have soared. Power cuts have also increased, as the government struggles to secure fuel and diesel, while grocery stores began imposing a limit on how many items customers can buy amid a rush to hoard basic goods.

The country is experiencing an unparalleled economic meltdown, rooted in years of mismanagement and excessive public spending.

On Thursday, embattled Prime Minister Hassan Diab accused “local and external parties” of seeking to besiege Lebanon and make his government fail. He also accused internal forces he did not name of causing the currency crisis.

“The dollar game has become exposed and visible,” he told a Cabinet meeting. Diab also claimed foreign countries were “blatantly interfering in Lebanon's affairs,” aided by internal powers to “drag Lebanon into the region's conflicts.” He did not elaborate.



Gold Eases from Record Peak on Profit-taking; Trump's Tariffs in Focus

Gold bars at a gold shop in Bangkok, Thailand, 01 April 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Gold bars at a gold shop in Bangkok, Thailand, 01 April 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
TT
20

Gold Eases from Record Peak on Profit-taking; Trump's Tariffs in Focus

Gold bars at a gold shop in Bangkok, Thailand, 01 April 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Gold bars at a gold shop in Bangkok, Thailand, 01 April 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

Gold dipped on Thursday as traders locked in profits after prices hit a record high, following a rush to safe-haven assets triggered by US President Donald Trump's aggressive import tariffs, which escalated the already intense global trade war.

Spot gold was down 0.4% at $3,122.1, as of 0710 GMT. Earlier in the session, bullion hit an all-time high of $3,167.57.

US gold futures fell 0.7% to $3,145.00.

Trump unveiled on Wednesday a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the US, and higher duties on dozens of countries, including some of its biggest trading partners, deepening a trade war that has rattled global markets, Reuters said.

The reciprocal tariffs do not apply to certain goods, including gold, energy and "certain minerals that are not available in the US," according to a White House fact sheet.

One of the factors supporting gold was "the slowdown that tariffs are likely to cause the US economy, raising the prospects of future rate cuts," Capital.com's financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

The Trump administration confirmed that the 25% global car and truck tariffs will take effect on April 3, as planned, and duties on automotive parts imports will be launched on May 3.

Gold is in "a pure momentum trade, where bulls who were left for dust are agonizing on the side line, eager for even the smallest of dips, and until we see a volatile shakeout big enough to stun bulls and bears, the momentum trade could continue higher," said Matt Simpson, a senior analyst at City Index.

Gold, a hedge against political and financial instabilities, has surged more than 19% year-to-date, mainly driven by tariff jitters, rate- cut possibilities, geopolitical conflicts, and central bank buying.

"There's also some front running going on amongst traders who anticipate (Trump's) policies will drive central banks to park their reserves in gold rather than US dollar-denominated assets," Rodda said.

Market awaits US non-farm payrolls report due on Friday for clues into the Federal Reserve's policy path.

Spot silver slipped 2.8% to $33.07 an ounce, platinum fell 1.5% to $968.37, and palladium lost 1.4% to $956.50.