The country is now in a state of collapse - fuel shortages, power cuts, bare shelves and a plummeting currency. It is a financial crisis with deep roots in a fundamentally flawed political system.
Last year saw the mass resignation of the entire cabinet after the explosion at a port that killed more than two hundred. It was later discovered a storage facility had been holding dangerous chemicals that no one had bothered to move.
The BBC’s Jean Mackenzie reports from and asks how the country can get back to its previous life - booming with optimism, tourism, and confidence.
