Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

The Graphic Truth: Salad crisis — Lebanon's food prices soar

The Graphic Truth: Salad crisis — Lebanon's food prices soar
Gabriella Turrisi
Make us preferred on Google

Lebanon's economic implosion and currency crisis have caused food prices to surge. Lebanon imports around 80 percent of the food it consumes, and so the sharp depreciation of the lira vs the US dollar has made some staples five times more expensive than when the economic crisis first hit in October 2019. This year's Ramadan was very painful for many Lebanese, as the cost of an Iftar meal — which Muslims break their fast with each day — has increased a whopping 300 percent in just two years. We take a look at how food prices have risen as a result of the plunging value of Lebanon's currency over the last 15 months.

More For You

​Israeli soldiers walk near a damaged car in Halhul, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20, 2026.

Israeli soldiers walk near a damaged car, which Palestinians say was burned by Israeli settlers, in Halhul, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20, 2026.

REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
This week, far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich used an alleged arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against him to insert fresh impetus into the effort to build settlements in the West Bank, saying on Tuesday that he wanted to make the settlements “irreversible.” He also ordered the eviction this week of Palestinian [...]
Fidel Castro and his brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro (L), preside over the 100th anniversary of the death of independence hero Antonio Maceo, in this photo from December 7, 1996.

Fidel Castro and his brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro (L), preside over a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the death of independence hero Antonio Maceo, in this photo from December 7, 1996.

REUTERS
US amps up pressure on Cuba by indicting ex-presidentThe Justice Department yesterday charged Raúl Castro, the younger brother of Fidel, with murder and a conspiracy to kill American citizens over a 1996 incident in which the Cuban military shot down two civilian planes belonging to Cuban exiles off the coast of the communist-run island. The [...]
Don’t worry, renminbi happy
Natalie Johnson
Previously, the volume hadn’t topped $117 billion monthly, but analysts say the Iran war has stoked the use of China’s currency by oil exporters like Russia and Iran, who are seeking to avoid US sanctions. While the trend does reflect a slight erosion of the dollar’s international dominance, something we’ve been keeping our eye on, it’s worth [...]
The tide is turning in Russia-Ukraine war
In the early hours of May 17, more than 500 Ukrainian drones punched through three of Moscow’s four air-defense rings. They hit oil infrastructure, military-industrial plants, and apartment buildings in and around the capital, killing at least four and wounding a dozen. Coming three days after a deadly Russian barrage that Ukrainian officials [...]