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“Sky News Arabia” has learned that the closure was not limited to the “Saida Plaza” shopping center, as reported by local Lebanese media.
Salah Al-Halabi, the owner of the five “Plaza” centers scattered in different parts of Lebanon, told Sky News Arabia that all stores were closed at the same time on Monday.
Al-Halabi said it has five centers in Saida, the Port of Tripoli, Tal Square, Tripoli and Halba in Akkar, all signed with the name of the Plaza, which were closed today due to the current situation. , and added: “For more than a year, we are suffering and we are waiting for the formation of a rescue government that will lead the country to safety, and unfortunately he has not returned. We have hope, after to have fallen into a band of thieves who run the country. “
Deep crisis
He continued, “We employed around 200 employees in different centers, and clarity is currently limited to 80 employees. We will not give up what is left of them despite the closure, and we will pay them, from today their meager wages, after they were close to a thousand dollars, and now they do not exceed a hundred dollars at the current time. “
“A mafia controls us and I decided to participate in the revolution and I invited the employees to participate. I encourage my son, who was a student at the American University of Beirut, to travel from these countries,” he added.
For his part, Ali Al-Sharif, head of the Sidon Merchants Association, told Sky News Arabia that the announcement by some commercial establishments in the Sidon commercial market to temporarily close until the exchange rate of the dollar stabilizes is the natural result of what we have. of the dollar price chaos, and it will continue in stores. Especially those that sell luxury goods, and there are stores that are about to close as well, with the dollar price up 30 percent and purchasing power declining.
According to the spokesperson, the markets were not at the origin of the outbreak of the epidemic in Lebanon, explaining: “We have only recorded 5 positive cases in each commercial market”.
Thieves and crisis of confidence
Al-Sharif attributed this rapid economic collapse to the “empty and looted state treasury and the failure to form the government,” noting that there is looting in all state institutions, while the international community refuses to help those responsible, and there is a loud cry that will soon rise if the situation continues as such, and we have become something like a situation of clinical death and the state in a coma and collapse, and the merchants will not be able to pay the wages of the employees. “
He added: “It is natural that the cry of the merchants increases as a result of this frenzied situation of the dollar, which in one week went from 8,000 pounds to 12,500 pounds, which caused a big shock in the markets, and who have not yet filed for bankruptcy in the sense of bankruptcy. “
He concluded by saying: “The mouth of the merchants” What do we do and at what price do we buy and at what price do we sell? And every commercial store has to sell two or three pieces to buy one?
Shops closed
Since the start of 2020, Lebanon has experienced a closure that has reached a quarter of stores in the capital, Beirut, and other areas have been closed, while a third of stores have remained open during an opening period.
However, due to the lira exchange rate crisis, the scarcity of the dollar and the declining purchasing power of Lebanese and residents, the closure has become almost permanent. Among the companies that have stopped selling, the company “Mike Sport”, which has announced its refusal to engage in the informal game of buying and selling the dollar and determining the prices of its goods and raw materials accordingly. .
Likewise, other companies followed suit, including “Marie France”, which stopped selling in all its branches until the situation improved, and refused to price their goods according to the going price. on the market.
In the same vein, “Adidas” announced the suspension of the direct management of its stores in Lebanon and the closure of its offices from the end of 2020, due to economic challenges.
Experts say these closures are not completely removed from the global crisis that has plagued the retail industry in light of the shutdown due to the Corona virus, and that its sales have declined significantly in Britain and the States. -United, for example.
In Lebanon, however, consumer purchasing power has seen a significant decline, alongside the decline in the Lebanese pound’s exchange rate against the dollar, as well as the three-month close.
The dollar’s exchange rate on Monday in Lebanon recorded a purchase price of 13,500 Lebanese pounds, against a sell-off of 13,775, amid an anticipated rise.
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