Lebanon has been facing a severe economic and financial crisis since 2019. The crisis was caused by a combination of factors, including mismanagement, corruption, and political dysfunction. The countrys sectarian elite borrowed with few restraints, and the budget deficit rocketed, while the balance of payments sank deeper into the red. The crisis was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Beirut port explosion. Lebanons currency lost 98% of its value, and the country experienced liquidity shortages. The crisis has had a devastating impact on the provision of public services, with schools struggling to operate amid resignations and strikes by teachers, electricity and internet cuts, and inflation. The crisis has pushed over 80% of the population into poverty, and more than half the countrys population is likely already below the poverty line. Unemployment has increased from 11.4% in 2018-19 to 29.6% in 2022. The country has witnessed a dramatic collapse in basic services, driven by depleting foreign exchange reserves since the onset of the compounded crisis. The government defaulted on its foreign debt, and banks no longer had enough dollars to pay depositors queuing outside, so they shut their doors. Lebanon has become, for all intents and purposes, a failed state, with its government rife with corruption and unable to care for its people who suffer chronic and crushing poverty from economic mismanagement and a banking collapse.