European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Endless distress in shattered Lebanon sandbags Are piled outside s pharmacy to protect ii irom gunfire and shells in battered Beirut by Rodin Kenaan associated press a med tawa5hi used his last 100lebanese pounds Aboul $1 2rj\ to place a anguished advertisement in Beirut s and Jamar  Oiler my eight juvenile children Lor Sale the Price their exit irom Lebanon to ensure then  the notice said Kawashi 42 an unemployed moslem in the Northern port City of Tripoli said he has received several doors irom wealthy arabs touched by his Appeal i m weighing them to choose the Host or my children he said Kawashi s desperation Over life in Lebanon is shared by Many of Lebanon s four million people beyond the incessant bloodletting. They lace increasing economic distress economists say 11v years of civil War have fumed Confidence in a country thai once was the pillar of the Middle Easl s banking and commercial system a recession caused by the dramatic drop in Oil prices and the virtual dismemberment of Lebanon into hostile sectarian cantons has brought the nation s once thriving Economy Lols Knees. Prime minister Rashid Karami s half Christian half moslem government ils aut Harily eroded to Aimos nothing by powerful militias has been unable to Stop the rot. Karami wants All militias disbanded and their cantons where they Levy taxes and operate illegal ports put under government control he Lold parliament recently Hal militia business enterprises Siphon Oil Aboul $1 5 Miltton dollars a month irom the Treasury economists said this leaves the government Wilh a budget deficit equal to More than half its Gross income inflation now is pegged at around 105 Percone a year far outstripping income Levels unemployment unknown in Lebanon before the War. S running a 40 percent by conservative estimate the lebanese Pound has alien in value by 97 percent since the civil War Between christians and moslem broke out in april 1975. The Pound was Worth 50 us cents in 1974. Now it s Worth less than one cent the downward spiral has accelerated in recent months sending the prices leaping almost daily. A Carton of powdered milk costs 400 lebanese pounds roughly $6 at current Exchange rates. It was 300 pounds or m so 10 Days ago. The Price of a to 2.2 pounds of sugar leaped Rorn 9 to 19 pounds and a kilo of Rice irom 12 to 22 pounds in the same  people have second and third jobs to make talk crisis Vii i moslem Moie than tru i i in Majk dominant in Stirns Bill everyone Pels Tiv Pinch Christian and lems joined together Csc 2  3  sinks in a rare display of , to Piot Osl the government s Lailure to halt economic deterioration my salary was world $5.000 a month in 1982 h 5 nov Worth $300 complained an editor Ruth 4nin.i. A Telephone and electricity charges have doubled this year in the Leeming slums of South Beirut just about everyone pirates enc Lucily by hooking Mlo overhead municipal Power lines school Lees have also doubled forcing Many lebanese to keep their children Al Home i had to soil my Carlo pay the Lilion Lees of my our  said Mou Slata Kosh. A retired professional smite militiaman with Anm-t6at the Entrance to Tot Lotta. A palestinian ret Gao Camp in Wett Beirut a Reslier Ivelio werks As a go ail it a  in a  West Beirut if the current Pace of my ill on in i chocked the nation to bound to lice Liming. Warned Antoniv bislwa., head of Lebanon s confederation of labor unions Winch represents 150 000 lebanese workers Public Wrath Al the government s  to halt the economic shots erupted into violence against financial institutions and Money speculators last month the Central Bank was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. There were live bomb a lacks on Banks and Money changers a half dozen groups claiming to represent the increasingly disaffected population sprang up. One group calling Iladell the Black panthers said it carried out the Central Bank attack and warned we shall carry Oul the death sentence against any banker or Speculator trading with the people s bread " the economic malaise has also triggered a crime wave As impoverished lebanese take to theft newspapers carry daily reports of burglaries holdups and Bank raids. Police say More than 10 Banks have been robbed this year. The Heady Days when Beirut was the Middle East s banking capital bustling with Western tycoons and High living Arab Oil sheiks have Long gone massive petrodollar deposits have fled to Saler havens in Europe and the United states for years the Economy was cushioned by huge amounts of Money from Arab Stales for private armies the Palestine liberation organization alone spent an estimated $1 billion a year in Lebanon until it was driven out in Israel s 1982 invasion. Lebanese and palestinians working in the Oil Rich Gulf used to pump an estimated t 2 billion dollars a year in remittances into the country. But with the Oil Price crisis slashing revenues. The Gull slates Are booting Oul Loreign workers and remittances have plummeted Hamra. The commercial heart of Wesl Beirut is a drab place these Days battered by the lighting the streets Are jammed Wilh businessmen who loss Ihen stores and now sell their wares from stalls Money changers sit in their Booths with pistols under the counter or guarded by gunmen yet despite the crisis Banks and the Money Market Slit unction with what Beirut based economist flied Khouri Calls efficiency and sophistication " there is no one Center Lor Beirut s foreign Exchange which operates Between Lebanon s several dozen Banks the Central Bank and Trie lebanese finance society a brokerage run by several major Banks Beirut in t phenom pit end or some provincial Backwater Khoun said. Beirut s dealers can Slit quote Tho finest Rales Tor regional and International currencies. Lebanon s been in the foreign Exchange game longer than  sunday december 21, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17