Their country rivals Zimbabwe for the highest inflation in the world
Friday – 10 Shaaban 1444 AH – 03 March 2023 AD Issue Number [16166]
Beirut: «Asharq Al-Awsat»
Yesterday, an audio clip recorded by a Lebanese young man named Musa Al-Shami (32 years old) spread on social media when he stood in front of his house in the town of Jarjoua in southern Lebanon, asking his friend to take care of his family and considering its members “a trust in the neck of his friend.” He said, “I am now in front of the building, and I will commit suicide.” He also asked those who knew him to “forgive him and not speak ill of him.”
The spread of the audio recording caused great grief in Lebanon. Al-Shami is one of three Lebanese who committed suicide during the past 48 hours, as resorting to this option has become common, and Lebanese resort to it to face their hardships in life, while the reservation continues to announce it because suicide is still a “taboo” in social environments, as specialists say. It has also become a major social danger in light of the financial pressures and living crises that the Lebanese suffer from.
Psychotherapist Reef Romanos says that the figures circulating regarding the number of people who commit suicide in Lebanon are less than the reality, “because the issue of suicide is still taboo, and not all cases are announced.”
Romanos confirms that the economic situation is one of the factors that lead to surrender and suicide, noting that people between the ages of 16 and 34 are more likely to commit suicide in Lebanon.
On the economic level as well, the unprecedented rises in the inflation rate indicate Lebanon’s tendency to seize the lead from Zimbabwe, as it occupies the first position in the world in the indexes of the high prices achieved in food prices and the cost of living in general. Experts estimate that the cumulative inflation index in Lebanon has doubled from regarding 990 to 2,200 percent over last year’s outcome, and it will not need more than half of this time period, i.e. the middle of this year, to achieve a new double jump.
Economic hardship drives young Lebanese to commit suicide
