Lebanon in the midst of an economic collapse on Sunday increased fuel prices by nearly 70%, signaling a further reduction in subsidies in the country deprived of foreign currency and plagued by shortages.
With the new hike, fuel prices have nearly tripled in the two months since the central bank began cutting import subsidies in June.
The increase will spill over into the entire economy and drive up prices in the hyperinflation-hit country.
With the crisis, prices in supermarkets are increasing almost from week to week, due to a depreciation of the Lebanese pound that nothing seems to stop.
Endless queues for gasoline
According to the new price list published this Sunday by the National Information Agency ANI, that of unleaded petrol 98 and 95 increases by 67% and 66% compared to the last prices announced on August 11.
As for the household gas cylinder, its price increases by 50%.
Due to shortages, many gas stations do not open and endless lines form in front of those accepting customers.
To clear customs, the authorities point the finger at smuggling to neighboring Syria, where fuel is sold much more expensive than on the Lebanese market.
The army has launched searches and seized tons of fuel from gas stations or suppliers accused of storing it for speculative purposes.
End of regulation
On August 15 before dawn, the explosion of a petrol tank in the Akkar region (north) left about thirty dead, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health, the wounded having succumbed to their injuries .
Since the fall of 2019, Lebanon has been going through one of the worst economic crises in the world since the mid-19th century, according to the World Bank.
A mechanism of the Central Bank (BDL) made it possible to provide importers with dollars at the official rate of 1,507 Lebanese pounds, more advantageous than that of the market, thus suppressing the prices of certain products.
Panic in the country
But short of foreign exchange, the BDL began to gradually ration its dollars.
At the end of June, it announced the adoption of a rate of 3,900 pounds to the dollar for fuel imports.
On Saturday, at a meeting between the president, the outgoing prime minister and the governor of the central bank, a new rate of 8,000 pounds was adopted.
The central bank first announced on August 11 that it would no longer fund fuel subsidies, causing panic.
For several weeks, the exhausted population has lived long hours without electricity and even hospitals have been threatened by the energy crisis.
About 78% of the Lebanese population now live below the poverty line, according to the UN.
World
Lebanon: tanker explosion kills at least 28
World
Crisis in Lebanon: commodity prices skyrocket
Fuel
Beirut
Gasoline
Lebanon
Economy
World