Hottest commodity in Lebanon's economic chaos: The US dollar

BEIRUT (AP) — The lines snaked around the block. Then they swelled to fill the whole street, before they turned into a raucous mob of men shoving to the front of the line. There at the exchange bureau, they could buy rationed dollars, the hottest commodity in Lebanon.

The small Mediterranean country’s financial meltdown has thrown Lebanese into a frantic search for dollars as their local currency's value evaporates. To get the precious hard currency, they must navigate labyrinthine regulations, exploiting any loopholes they can to rescue their earnings.

Every transaction, from doctor fees to store purchases to rent, is negotiated day by day, juggling the tumbling Lebanese pound and multiple, changing dollar exchange rates. Those who can are snapping up luxury goods or real estate, trying to use their dollars trapped in bank accounts frozen by the cash-strapped authorities.

The turmoil is deepening resentment of the political elite and the once flourishing banking system — and fueling desperation.

“They are going to crash us into a wall,” Chris Georgian, a 25-year-old student, said, trying to buy $600 at an exchange bureau to send for his university fees in Armenia.

Last week, a 61-year-old man apparently distraught over his economic situation shot and killed himself on a Beirut commercial street, one of multiple suicides during the crisis.

Despite survival skills honed by political tension and wars, nothing prepared Lebanese for having to line up to buy money.

During the 15-year civil war and Israel’s invasion and occupation of the south and Beirut, there may have been queues for water or bread, but Lebanon was always flush with dollars.

Since 1997, the local currency, the pound, was pegged at around 1,500 to the dollar, and Lebanese used the two...