‘Don’t Look Back’: When the economy collapses, the Lebanese turn to Cyprus | Business and Economy

Nicosia / Larnaca, Cyprus Pierre Sarkis pulls out a cigarette while watching a rain outside a window in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia. Life has not been easy since leaving Lebanon in mid-September, but the 35-year-old is eager to settle on the island.

“I do not look back. I know I’m tired of all my choices in Lebanon, “he said.

Sarkis is one of 77,000 Lebanese people who fled the country without money last year, according to research firm Information International. About 12,000 of them have gone to Cyprus, 70 percent of those between the ages of 25 and 40, Mohammad Chamseddine, the company’s research and research expert, told Al Jazeera.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 63 percent of Lebanese people want to leave the country permanently because of the worst way of life. Some have chosen to make dangerous trips across the sea to Cyprus and other European countries. A Lebanese resident at a Cyprus refugee camp, who asked not to be identified, told Al Jazeera that he and his family risked their lives to pay for his children.

“In Lebanon there is no labor market,” Chamseddine said. “So when students graduate from university, they have the option of either moving to and from work.”

Sarkis, who worked as a real estate agent before losing his job, was one of his last to leave Lebanon. He stayed around afterwards a devastating eruption in the port of Beirut last year that killed more than 200 people, injured 6,500 others and destroyed several areas in Lebanon’s capital, which also shook his house.

But Sarkis said electrical and fuel problems last year was the last weed.

He said: “When I did not even have time to ask questions because of a power outage or to attend a meeting because of a gasoline problem, I knew that the door had been locked tightly. “And when we didn’t have electricity for 24 full hours, and I had to throw away everything that melted in my fridge, I told myself ‘that’.”

Lebanese pounds over the past two years have lost more than 90 percent of their value, and one third of the population lives in poverty.

Last summer, Lebanese officials gradually increased their prices for diesel fuel and petrol. But without any plan to reform the economy, the social security net or the proper oversight of the law, the shortage of oil has halted the lives of many, even hospitals are suffering to keep the lights burning. Owners of petroleum and oil distributors gathered their products for sale with great profit, while sellers in black markets sold their goods at exorbitant prices.

“I prayed that if I was invited to apply for a job, my phone would have enough battery life to go to the meeting,” recalls Sarkis, who sold his car and belongings to move to Cyprus, where the Greek passport came from. one of his grandparents allowed him to move there easily.

“If you live in Lebanon now, you’re crazy.”

Cutting down losses in Cyprus

In an 80-year building behind the Church of Saint Lazarus, 45-year-old architect Rani al-Rajji and 27-year-old Elias Khalife are rushing to complete a new exciting project in Larnaca, built for years to work in the once occupied Lebanese food and beverage companies.

Soul is set to open in March, with Lebanese owners hoping to bring a Beirut nightmare to Larnaca. [Kareem Chehayeb/Al Jazeera]

“It’s not a bar, not a restaurant, not a restaurant, not a club; is a minority of them all, “said al-Rajji of the site, which was set up by five Lebanese people and two Cypriots.” It is called the Soul. “

Both al-Rajji and Khalife have the most popular restaurants and bars in Lebanon. But the economic crisis and the ongoing brain drain means that strengthening their businesses has been a daunting task.

“The location in Beirut is still working, but I do not know how long because we are losing our young customers,” al-Rajji said. “I know that in the next three, four, or five years, I will not be able to keep it alive. We lost our ‘rainy days’ wallet in a bank. ”

In August 2019, Lebanese banks began issuing foreign currency due to a lack of solid currency. The move left millions of people alive, destroying what was left of the Lebanese middle class. Today, these reductions are likely to occur at a slightly higher rate in the Lebanese pound – but at a greater loss.

Meanwhile, electricity and oil crises have caused businesses to face ups and as high as many are already struggling to keep up with Lebanon. rising food prices, one of the worst evils in the world.

Khalife, a partner of three businesses that have been devastated by the Beirut port explosion, said Soul will be like a “piggy bank” in their home activities.

“You can’t prepare well. “One day you will be told that there is no fuel so there is no electricity or water,” said Khalife. “We brought our own little generator. The customers were delighted to draw his pictures, but it really was so. ”

What will be Soul in the past were three stores. But the new project will redevelop the old building with beautiful stone, as well as shop metal closets that serve as a starting point. “We have not come to change Cyprus, but we have come here just to add Lebanese spices,” al-Rajji said with a smile.

But he is well aware that Soul’s success is crucial for his 12 Beirut employees who work at the award-winning bar, Brazzaville. “I have to give them hope, so I had to make them an anchor, to fundraise for the organization to keep it alive,” he said. I do not want him to leave.

Exports over the past 10 years have been a major blow to the Lebanese economy, with no dividends.

Instead, Chamesddine, of Information International, said remittances were the reason why Lebanon was so vulnerable. It is estimated that 250,000 Lebanese families depend on them for survival.

Karim Abou Jamra shows off his Cyprus map tattoo [Kareem Chehayeb/Al Jazeera]

“If it weren’t for the money coming from abroad, the economy would be a lot worse,” he said. “Legally about $ 6-7bn comes in every year, but I guess it could reach $ 13bn since so many people in particular have recently brought in money, instead of linking it to banks.”

It takes less than an hour to fly from Larnaca to Beirut. Although many Lebanese people in Cyprus are spending time with their families on vacation, they are doing so with mixed feelings.

Among them is 22-year-old Karim Abou Jamra, who left Lebanon four years ago to pursue a business degree in Cyprus. He always hoped to return home and do family work, but now he has a second thought after the financial crisis shakes Lebanon.

“I was devastated when everything happened as if I had lost someone,” Abou Jamra said. “Maybe in the future, if things go well, I’ll try again, but for now, nothing.”

Abou Jamra takes his bag and heads for the chat room. He missed his family, but this time it has changed, he said. He shows a Cyprus map tattoo on his arm as he wakes up. “If I had lived in Lebanon, I would have loved that place.”

Meanwhile in Larnaca, al-Rajji is planning to relocate his family to Cyprus to establish the Spring of Soul. He is said to have met a large number of Lebanese people in Cyprus and sees “the tragedy: that the Lebanese brain continues to thrive.

“Lebanon has always been exporting because we do not have any natural exports,” al-Rajji said. “But unfortunately over the past 30 years, it has become a business.”

As for Sarkis, he hopes his older brother will reunite with him and their mother in Cyprus by January. She is also expecting her boyfriend and is volunteering to start a new chapter with him on the island.

“I’m 35 years old and I think I will live to be 70 years old,” he said with a laugh. “I gave half my life in Lebanon, but after all that, I think it would be better to spend another half of my life somewhere better.”