Lebanon: anger and roadblocks after lifting of fuel subsidies
Cars block the road near a gas station in Sidon, Lebanon on August 12.
REUTERS - STRINGER
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Roadblocks have been erected since Wednesday, August 11, in the evening in Lebanon.
The protesters denounce both a bill seen as a way to protect elected officials in the face of the investigation into the explosion in the port of Beirut, as well as a decision by the Lebanese Central Bank to reduce its fuel subsidies.
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Angry protesters blocked several roads across Lebanon on Thursday, the day after a decision by the Banque du Liban (BDL) amounting to a lifting of fuel subsidies in a country hit by a serious economic crisis.
Very early Thursday morning, hundreds of motorists were already lining up outside gas stations, hoping to refuel before prices rose further.
Short of foreign exchange, the country has gradually lifted subsidies on several commodities in recent weeks, pushing up fuel and medicine prices.
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For Anthony Taya, a secondary school teacher, Lebanon is sinking into crisis day by day, and the outlook is growing bleak.
“
We expected this for a long time.
It will block the rest of the Lebanese economy.
There will be factories that will no longer be able to function, there will be cars that will not find gasoline, because, even if the cost of gasoline will increase, there will not be enough quantity of gasoline. gasoline to suffice for everyone.
There will always be a problem of shortage of gasoline and at very high prices,
”he notes.
"It's lose-lose"
On Wednesday evening, the Banque du Liban (BDL) issued a press release indicating that credit lines for importing fuel will now be granted on the basis of the rate charged on the “
black market
”.
According to the local "Information International" institute, a total lifting of subsidies would lead to a 344% increase in the price of a can of gasoline and about 387% of that of diesel.
Indexed to the greenback since 1997 at the rate of 1,507 pounds to the dollar, the national currency has collapsed, with the dollar now trading at more than 20,000 pounds on the black market.
In July, the government decided to subsidize fuel imports at the rate of 3,900 pounds to the dollar, already pushing prices up 30%.
“
The Lebanese employee is faced with a huge dilemma now: he has to go to his job, otherwise he will not get his salary. And if he does, he has to pay for gasoline to go to his job. So, he will be faced with paying immeasurably more to be able to buy gasoline, when he does not have enough money to support his family, already. From all points of view, it's a lose-lose,
”says Anthony Taya, a secondary school teacher.
The unprecedented economic crisis that the country is going through is aggravated by the inertia of the leaders, the country having been without a new government for a year.
The Banque du Liban's decision sparked controversy in the political arena, with resigning Prime Minister Hassan Diab calling it illegal and calling for an urgent government meeting.
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Lebanon