Combined Salaries of Lebanon’s President, Speaker & PM Drop Below $1,000

Lebanese President Michel Aoun holding a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Baabda last August (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun holding a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Baabda last August (Dalati & Nohra)
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Combined Salaries of Lebanon’s President, Speaker & PM Drop Below $1,000

Lebanese President Michel Aoun holding a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Baabda last August (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun holding a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Baabda last August (Dalati & Nohra)

The financial and economic collapse sweeping Lebanon has managed to drastically change the lifestyle of many Lebanese as it continues to threaten stability in the country.

Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has shed more than 90% of its value, dropping from an exchange rate of 1,505 pounds to the dollar to a staggering 37,800 pounds.

With the improvement of the incomes of some private sector employees, public sector staff remained the most affected by this crisis.

Many experts believe that the 2017 increase in the wages of civil servants was a major cause of Lebanon’s financial collapse today. The hike had doubled costs more than once to an already exhausted treasury.

Naturally, senior state officials were also affected by the collapse. Their salaries were virtually turned into crumbs.

The highest paycheck, which stands at about $330, goes to the country’s president.

Meanwhile, soldiers in the army and security officers are getting paid as little as $60 a month.

Even though the value of salaries has shrunk across the board, not all civil servants are suffering the same way.

No significant decline has been registered in terms of services offered to senior government officials, despite the low value of the operational budgets of state institutions.

Nevertheless, the financial and economic crisis had taken its toll on the parliament building, where lawmakers were unable to hold some sessions due to power outages.

Moreover, electricity is being rationed at the prime minister’s office.

Muhammad Shamseddine, a researcher at the Beirut-based consultancy firm “Information International,” confirmed that the crisis did not affect the lifestyle enjoyed by the president, speaker of parliament and prime minister.

Additionally, Shamseddine pointed out that the life standards of leaders in security services had also remained the same.

However, the crisis has overwhelmed the lifestyle of employees, officers and judges, whose salaries became frighteningly low.

The basic salary of the president is 4.5 million pounds. Presidents also receive a similar amount as a “representation allowance” and 3.5 million pounds in “honorary” compensations.

This brings the total to 12.5 million pounds. At the end of 2019, this amount equaled around $8,300. Today, it equals around $330 according to the black-market dollar exchange rate on Thursday afternoon.

As for the speaker of parliament and prime minister, they each receive a total of 11.825 million pounds (around $312).



52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday. Also, 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.