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In a Lebanon plagued by shortages, fuel prices rise by 30%

2021-07-01T00:51:38.025Z


The country is stuck according to the World Bank in one of the worst economic crises in the world since 1850 and more than half of the population already lives below the poverty line, according to the UN.


In collapsing Lebanon, fuel prices rose on Tuesday (June 29) by more than 30% after a partial lifting of subsidies and weeks of shortages that caused endless queues in front of gas stations. The increase will have repercussions on other sectors and fuel inflation, in particular for public transport, deliveries of goods, even the price of bread or the bill of private electricity generators, which are very widespread. Some suppliers have already announced a price hike. This is yet another blow to exhausted Lebanese, exasperated by political leaders accused of incompetence and corruption.The country is stuck according to the World Bank in one of the worst economic crises in the world since 1850 and more than half of the population already lives below the poverty line, according to the UN.

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Until now, the Central Bank provided fuel importers with 85% of the dollars needed for their activities at the official rate of 1,507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, a rate much more advantageous than that of the black market where the greenback is now traded at over 17,000 books. The system of subsidies had made it possible to control prices at the pump and to mitigate the consequences of the monetary collapse. But faced with the depletion of the Bank of Lebanon's reserves, the latter will now exchange the dollar with importers against 3,900 pounds. The price of a can of unleaded 95 therefore increased on Tuesday by nearly 16,000 Lebanese pounds (9 euros at the official rate) to reach 61,000 pounds (35 euros), according to the national news agency (ANI).The price of 20 liters of unleaded 98 has climbed 16,300 pounds to almost 63,000 pounds, while the canister of diesel has jumped to 46,100 pounds from 33,300 pounds previously.

Every day stood in line, more humiliating than that, there is not.

Soon we will be killing each other for gasoline.

"

Noureddine Radwan

The price hike comes as fuel shortages have crippled the country for weeks, with motorists parking for hours in front of stations every day, often at dawn.

"We hate life here, we can't take it any longer"

Noureddine Radwan carried away Tuesday in a long queue in Beirut.

“Every day has stood in line, more humiliating than that, there is not.

Soon we will kill each other for gasoline ”

, he fumed.

According to importers, the shortages are due to a delay by the Central Bank in opening new lines of credit, the Lebanese authorities attributing them to the storage of large quantities of fuels by traders who waited for the new tariffs and smuggled into Syria.

The president of the fuel distributors' union, Fadi Abou Chakra, told ANI on Tuesday that six tankers had started unloading their cargoes.

To read also: Renaud Girard: "How to get out of the Lebanese impasse?"

"What has happened in recent days in front of the gas stations is unacceptable, it is a humiliation for the citizens"

, indicated Tuesday the president Michel Aoun, one of the political figures shouted by the street. During a security meeting he chaired, he estimated that the new price list should

"alleviate the crisis"

. Over the weekend, angry protesters in two major cities attempted to storm public institutions, including branches of the Banque du Liban, to denounce the record depreciation of the national currency. On Monday, protesters blocked several roads across the country. Lebanon was shaken in the fall of 2019 by an unprecedented popular uprising, which denounced a corrupt political class, almost unchanged for decades. The country commemorates August 4 the first anniversary of the explosion at the port of Beirut which left more than 200 dead. The tragedy had prompted the resignation of the current government, now in charge of current affairs. Since then, Lebanon and the international community are still awaiting the formation of a new government.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-07-01

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