Protesters closed several major roads in Beirut and several regions on Tuesday amid rising anger as the currency hit a new record low on the black market, electricity cuts increased and the government raised the price of bread for the first time in more than a decade.

As prices increased over the past weeks, people have been rushing to supermarkets and groceries to buy goods. On Tuesday afternoon, Al-Makhazen Coop, one of the largest retailers in the country closed its stores in Beirut.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Tuesday said the government’s objective is not to “bring the banking sector or the central bank to their knees.”

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday asked Cabinet why a decision taken three months ago to audit the central bank’s accounts is yet to be implemented.

In his first official visit outside Beirut post COVID-19 pandemic, British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling visited Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, the British embassy said on Tuesday.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday presided over a Cabinet session at the Baabda Palace that followed a meeting for the Higher Defense Council.

“Cabinet will discuss the financial and economic situations in the country and the Higher Defense Council’s recommendations, especially as to the security situation in the country, particularly in the South, and the issue of general mobilization,” the National News Agency said.

Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar said he launched bids to purchase 60,000 tons of diesel oil for the oil facilities in Tripoli and Zahrani through the Spot Cargo mechanism.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab voiced calls during the IV Brussels Conference on Tuesday, to save Lebanon from the repercussions of the Caesar Act against Syria.

"I recall on the United Nations, on European countries and on friendly nations to steer Lebanon away from the repercussions of any act against Syria mainly the Caesar Act," said Diab in Lebanon's speech at the teleconference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region.

Lebanon is reportedly entering a “very critical” stage and the intensity of U.S. sanctions on Hizbullah is going to “massively increase in the future,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday criticized the inner circle around President Michel Aoun and said Lebanon’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund have “ended.”

“My impression is that President Aoun has not given his opinion about anything lately, and when I used to talk to him about any issue, he would ask me to ‘talk to Jebran,’” Geagea said in an interview with LBCI TV, referring to Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who is also Aoun’s son-in-law.

Finance Ministry Director General Alain Bifani announced Monday that he is resigning from his post "after we reached a dead end and the risk level surged to a level" that he can no longer deal with "silently."