The Lebanese liquidity crisis is an ongoing financial crisis affecting Lebanon, that became fully apparent in August 2019, and was further exacerbated by both the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon (which began in 2020) and the 2020 Beirut port explosion. The roots of the crisis run deep and the country experienced liquidity shortages in the years prior to 2019 but the full extent of the fragility of the economy were concealed by the financial engineering of the governor of the central bank. Lebanon's crisis was worsened by U.S. sanctions targeting Syria's government and Iran-backed Hezbollah.