When a Latte in Beirut Costs More Than Manhattan

I recently bought a latte from a local café in a pleasant part of Manhattan. It cost me $5.99.

A similar latte can cost $7.99 in some cafés in Saifi, Beirut.

Of course, one cup of coffee is not a complete cost of living comparison. New York remains significantly more expensive in areas such as housing, healthcare and insurance.

But that latte exposed something deeply troubling.

Beirut is reaching New York prices without offering anything close to New York wages, infrastructure or public services.

Beirut Prices Without New York Wages

The real problem is not simply the price of the coffee. It is the relationship between that price and what the average person earns.

New York has its own serious affordability crisis. However, its economy offers access to wages, employment opportunities, capital, infrastructure and a public transportation network that Lebanon cannot currently match.

Lebanese consumers are being asked to pay international prices while earning local salaries and privately financing services that should normally be provided through public infrastructure.

This is what makes Beirut’s cost of living particularly difficult.

The city is not becoming expensive because Lebanon is becoming wealthier or more productive. It is becoming expensive because inefficiency, instability and institutional failure are being added to almost everything we purchase.

Why the Cost of Doing Business in Lebanon Is So High

Lebanon produces exceptional products.

I have personally visited factories and met industry leaders whose quality can compete internationally. Our problem is not a lack of talent, creativity or production capability.

The problem is that many Lebanese manufacturers still depend on imported raw materials, packaging, machinery, spare parts and fuel.

Then come shipping, insurance, customs, transportation and energy costs.

Even when a product is manufactured in Lebanon, a significant part of its production process may remain connected to international suppliers and foreign currencies.

This makes local businesses highly exposed to changes in shipping costs, fuel prices, exchange rates and regional instability.

All those costs eventually appear in the final price paid by the consumer.

The Hidden Cost of Failed Infrastructure

Electricity is one of the clearest examples.

Many businesses must pay for several layers of energy. They may pay for state electricity, private generators, fuel, solar panels, batteries and maintenance.

Every failure of public infrastructure becomes another private bill.

That bill is eventually passed to the customer.

When you buy a coffee in Beirut, you are not only paying for coffee, milk and service. You are also helping the business cover imported ingredients, electricity, transportation, equipment, rent and the financial risk of operating in an unstable economy.

The Lebanese state does collect revenue, so saying that it has zero revenue would be inaccurate.

The deeper issue is that citizens and businesses receive very little in return. They are forced to purchase privately many of the services that functioning economies provide collectively.

This creates an economy in which people pay taxes, generator bills, private transportation, private healthcare, private education and private security.

Lebanon is expensive because almost everything has been privatized by necessity.

Why Temporary Price Increases Become Difficult to Reverse

Many price increases began as responses to supposedly temporary problems.

Shipping became more expensive. Fuel prices increased. Electricity became less reliable. The currency collapsed. Suppliers demanded payment in dollars. Businesses increased their prices to survive.

But when some of those costs later declined, consumer prices did not always decline with them.

That does not mean prices can never come down. They can.

However, from a marketing and consumer behavior perspective, a higher price can become the new reference point once customers become accustomed to paying it.

Businesses may also hesitate to reduce their prices because they continue to face uncertainty. They do not know when shipping, fuel, electricity or imported materials will become more expensive again.

Cheaper shipping tomorrow will not automatically produce a cheaper latte.

Without stronger competition, better infrastructure and genuine reductions in operating costs, temporary price increases can become part of the permanent cost of living.

Public Transportation in Lebanon Is an Economic Necessity

Lebanon cannot solve its affordability crisis only by asking employers to increase salaries.

The country must also reduce the cost of living.

A reliable and connected public transportation network should be one of the country’s priorities.

We need scheduled routes connecting Beirut with its suburbs and other major areas. We need safe buses, reliable arrival times, clear maps, digital payments and proper connections between different routes.

A functioning public transportation network would not only reduce traffic.

It would lower the monthly cost of commuting, reduce dependence on private cars, decrease fuel consumption and help employees access more job opportunities.

It would also help businesses by making it easier for workers and customers to reach them.

Public transportation is not simply a social service. It is economic infrastructure.

Could Solar Energy Support Public Transportation in Lebanon?

Lebanon has abundant sunshine, yet the country has failed to build an affordable and reliable national electricity system.

Solar energy could become part of a modern transportation strategy, but the idea must be technically and financially studied.

The realistic solution is not simply placing solar panels on top of buses and expecting them to generate enough energy to operate independently.

Lebanon could examine electric buses charged at dedicated depots. Those depots could receive part of their electricity from solar installations supported by battery storage and a reliable electricity network.

Such a system would require a serious feasibility study, transparent procurement, proper charging infrastructure, trained technicians and professional long term maintenance.

Solar energy is not a complete solution by itself. However, ignoring one of Lebanon’s strongest natural resources while continuing to depend heavily on imported fuel makes little economic sense.

We need to examine these ideas seriously.

Something must be done because the current situation is becoming increasingly unbearable.

When One Salary Is No Longer Enough

While I have been in New York, I have met people working extraordinarily long weeks, sometimes between 80 and 100 hours, simply to keep up with the cost of living.

This is not representative of every worker in New York, but it is something I have personally witnessed.

I fear that Lebanon is moving in the same direction, but with significantly lower earning potential.

One salary is already becoming insufficient for many Lebanese households. Soon, even two incomes may not be enough to maintain a normal standard of living.

More people will take second jobs, freelance at night, offer services online or launch small businesses.

We may see more entrepreneurs, but not necessarily because the business environment is improving.

Many people will become entrepreneurs because survival requires another source of income.

Can AI and E-commerce Help Lebanese People Build a Side Hustle?

As one salary becomes insufficient, more Lebanese people will begin searching for side hustles simply to make ends meet.

This is where E-commerce and Artificial Intelligence can become practical tools for survival.

Someone with a full time job could launch a small Shopify store, sell Lebanese products internationally or provide digital services to clients across the GCC, MENA and international markets.

Shopify development can reduce some of the technical barriers to launching an online store. However, building the website is only the beginning.

Sustainable E-commerce growth still requires the right product, realistic pricing, secure payments, dependable logistics, customer trust and consistent execution.

Artificial Intelligence can make a small operation more manageable.

AI automation can support market research, content creation, customer service, lead qualification and repetitive administrative work. Business automation can connect customer inquiries, order management, inventory and customer relationship systems.

WhatsApp AI agents may be particularly valuable in Lebanon and the wider region, where WhatsApp is already central to communication between businesses and customers.

A properly developed WhatsApp AI system can answer common questions, collect customer information, provide order updates and transfer complex conversations to a human representative.

This could allow someone to manage a side business while continuing to work a full time job.

SEO, GEO and CRO for Small Online Businesses

Launching an online store does not mean customers will automatically find it.

SEO can help a business become visible through traditional search engines such as Google and Bing.

Generative Engine Optimization, also known as GEO, can help make a company’s information clearer and more understandable to Artificial Intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.

Conversion Rate Optimization, known as CRO, can help turn a greater percentage of website visitors into customers.

These tools can support digital transformation and revenue growth, but none of them guarantees success.

AI is not a shortcut to easy money. E-commerce is not passive income. Shopify is not a replacement for a viable business model.

A successful side hustle still requires skills, discipline, time and the ability to solve a real customer problem.

We Should Not Romanticize the Side Hustle Economy

AI, E-commerce and business automation may help Lebanese people generate additional income and reach customers beyond Lebanon’s limited purchasing power.

For some households, that additional income could make a meaningful difference.

But we should not celebrate a country in which everyone needs a second job or business just to afford a normal life.

Working constantly is not always ambition.

Sometimes it is evidence that the economic system is failing.

Technology can help people adapt to the crisis. It cannot make the crisis acceptable.

Lebanon Needs Lower Costs, Not Longer Working Hours

Honestly, living in Lebanon is becoming almost unbearable.

Lebanon cannot survive by asking its citizens to work longer, pay privately for every essential service and absorb the cost of every institutional failure.

We need affordable and reliable electricity.

We need stronger local production and more competitive supply chains.

We need better logistics and a serious public transportation network.

We need digital skills, E-commerce and Artificial Intelligence to help Lebanese businesses reach regional and international markets.

But technology cannot repair electricity, build transportation networks or replace institutional reform.

Lebanon needs both sides of the equation.

It needs functioning infrastructure that lowers the cost of living and doing business. It also needs digitally capable people and companies that can compete internationally and generate new sources of income.

A city can survive high prices when productivity, wages and public services rise with them.

It cannot survive indefinitely when the cost of living becomes global while people’s earning power remains trapped locally.