'It’s cool to have money'
Wealthy Lebanese
party out the crisis

Financial Times

It’s cool to have money again,” said Sandra, a 43-year-old fitness enthusiast shopping at luxury department store Aïshti.

While half the country’s 8,000-plus restaurants, bars, cafés and nightclubs have shut down since 2019, business recently began picking up. About 250 restaurants have opened in 2023, with at least 30 more set to welcome customers before the end of the year, said Tony Ramy, president of the syndicate of hospitality and pâtisserie owners.

“It’s been an excellent season,” Ramy said of the blockbuster summer, which “has created badly needed jobs”.
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