By Dala Osseiran and Alaa Kanaan
By Dala Osseiran and Alaa Kanaan
BEIRUT, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Rafi Tabakian’s clothes retailer in a Beirut suburb is normally buzzing with clients in the course of the vacation season, however with Lebanon’s financial system in ruins, consumers are in brief provide.
“We have been in enterprise for 30 years, and I’ve by no means seen something like this,” he mentioned, including that gross sales have dropped 80% in December despite the fact that he has reduce his costs.
“Now we see clients getting into, asking for the value, after which leaving. It is scary,” Tabakian, who produces and sells garments within the densely populated, industrial Burj Hammoud neighbourhood of the capital, informed Reuters.
Lebanon is struggling its worst financial disaster, rooted in a long time of state corruption and waste, because the 1975-1990 civil warfare, leaving streets dimmer and purchasing centres emptier, with many shops and eating places void of shoppers.
The financial woes have sparked large protests in opposition to the ruling elite, banks are…