Lebanon raises the price of bread amid a stifling living crisis

Today, the Lebanese Ministry of Economy raised the price of a bag of bread by 20%, in a country witnessing a severe economic collapse, with which the authorities are unable to continue supporting basic materials amid a stifling living crisis exacerbated by the closure measures to confront "Covid-19".

The Minister of Economy in the caretaker government, Raoul Nehme, said that "due to the continuous and sharp rise in the price of wheat on the global stock exchange and the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar, in order to preserve food security," the ministry raised the price of a bundle of bread, the large size from 2000 to 2500 pounds "as a maximum. That is, an increase of 20%.

This is not the first time that the Ministry of Economy resorted to raising the price of bread in light of the worst economic crisis in Lebanon since the fall of 2019, which led to the local currency losing more than 80% of its value against the dollar in the parallel market, while the official rate is still the same.

Prices rose by 144%, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund.

And more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.

Tens of thousands have lost their jobs and income sources.

The strict general closure measures to combat the "Corona" virus, which continue until the eighth of this month, have raised fear for the fate of families suffering mainly from fragile economic conditions in a country in which daily workers constitute nearly half of the workforce, according to the Ministry of Labor, and 75% of its population needs assistance.

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