Al Arabiya English | Lebanon’s financial crisis forces Tripoli traders to shut up shop

Mid-morning on a Friday afternoon is around the time that merchants in Tripoli’s shopping district would usually think about closing their shops before prayer. But in the past months, around half of the stores have already closed, their steel shutters plastered with “For Rent” signs. They’re the latest victims of the financial crisis suffocating Lebanon’s economy.

Tripoli, known for its poverty before the revolution broke out, has been particularly hard hit.

Mazen Khaled has owned his menswear shop on one of the city’s streets for 15 years, and so far he has managed to keep his doors open. But the country’s economic and political crisis has presented him with two main problems.

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