Beirut -
Lebanon is entering the phase of liberalizing fuel prices, and experts doubt that this will lead to a breakthrough and its availability in the markets, and others raise a problem that worries the Lebanese and relates to a question: Has the transfer and securing of energy sources become the monopoly of affluent groups after poverty has affected about 75% of the population?
For the second time in one week, the Ministry of Energy announced an increase of about 16% in fuel prices, to complete the gradual lifting of the subsidy provided by the government through the Central Bank of Lebanon, which in turn secures the dollar to fuel import companies.
Fuel prices rose by more than 608% in one year, according to a report published by "International Information" a few days ago.
It is expected that prices will rise weekly, in line with the dollar exchange rate on the electronic “exchange” platform (about 14 thousand pounds), which was previously established by the Central Bank for commercial transactions, while the dollar on the black market exceeds 15 thousand and 700 pounds.
Suspicion and monopoly
For months, the Lebanese have been going through arduous tasks to fill their car tanks with gasoline, either standing in queues for hours in front of gas stations, or resorting to the black market, where gasoline is available at double its official price, and it is difficult to determine the quantities of fuel controlled by monopolists and smugglers.
According to estimates, Lebanon needs 10 million liters of gasoline and 11 million liters of diesel fuel per month.
An informed source indicates to Al Jazeera Net that the monopoly of hydrocarbons is carried out in several ways;
Including the fact that a large number of owners of cars parked in front of the stations fill their tanks with gasoline and then empty them to sell them at high prices, and some monopolists colluded with some importing companies to acquire large quantities to share with them the profits of selling them on the black market, while a large number of owners of closed gas stations work Secretly and sell their shares on the black market as well.
The liberalization of fuel prices in Lebanon did not cancel the queues in front of gas stations (Al-Jazeera)
post support
Economists believe that the lifting of subsidies will not lead to the availability of fuels in the markets before controlling monopoly operations, because the demand is greater than the supply.
Economist Nassib Ghobril believes that the Central Bank has nothing to do with the prices set by the Ministry of Energy, and its technical and financial role is limited to providing dollars to importing companies.
Gabriel told Al Jazeera Net that lifting the subsidy eliminates the incentives for storage, monopoly and smuggling, because the black market arose as a result of the price difference between the subsidized and unsubsidized plate.
Gabriel believes that the advance announcement of the date of lifting the subsidy encouraged the monopolists to stock up for later sale at high prices, adding that the monopolists prefer subsidies to reap huge profits.
The Central Bank is unable to continue the policy of import support as a result of the depletion of the dollar reserves, amid warnings of harming the mandatory reserve, which fell from about 32 billion dollars before the liquidity crisis at the end of 2019 to about 14 billion dollars currently.
The fuel crisis intersects with several challenges.
Politically, Lebanon is awaiting the effects of importing Iranian oil derivatives through Hezbollah, importing Iraqi fuel, and the results of the agreement to import Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity through the "Arab line" passing through Syria.
Financially, attention is focused on how the Banque du Liban will provide the dollar to import fuels, although this will negatively affect the deterioration of the value of the lira on the black market.
Popularly, the Lebanese focus on ways to provide energy sources, because the cost of gasoline for transportation and diesel for private generators (due to their outage of about 20 hours a day) require more than twice the minimum wage of 675,000 pounds (about $40).
The suffering of mobility
Faced with this reality, the Lebanese exchange the suffering of moving, and many pay half their salaries to and from their jobs;
Others are unable to resort to public transportation, via taxis and transport, because of the chaos and high tariffs.
In the opinion of the Director General of Land and Maritime Transport in Lebanon, Ahmed Tamer, public transport drivers are unable to comply with the official tariff for transporting individuals (6 thousand pounds), because it does not cover the high cost of filling their tanks with fuel.
Tamer believes that the liberalization of the price of fuel revealed an imbalance between the cost of transportation and the citizen's ability to pay it after the erosion of the value of salaries. Al Jazeera Net said that the authorities are working to hold meetings with unionists to find a formula to support public transportation.
Over the past 30 years, Lebanon has wasted millions of dollars on public transport plans without benefiting from them (Al-Jazeera)
Where is the public transportation plan?
Lebanon is famous for the large number of private cars it contains compared to its small area and population, and most families own two or more cars.
Some link the phenomenon with consumer culture, and others justify it by not regulating and modernizing public transportation, so the Lebanese have resorted to buying cars, even if large sums of money are borrowed from banks.
But the crisis has made private cars a burden, not a solution, according to what the researcher and expert in the field of public transport, Rami Semaan, sees.
In 2019, Parliament passed a law approving a World Bank loan of $295 million to finance the Greater Beirut Public Transport (BRT) plan, which relies on express buses to relieve congestion;
It was recently decided to use the loan to finance the "finance card" to support the poor at a rate of $126 per family.
Samaan states that Lebanon has, over the past 30 years, squandered millions of dollars on public transport plans without benefiting from them.
He told Al Jazeera Net that the fuel crisis revealed the dangers of deliberate escape from transportation plans, and constituted a slap to the consumer system, "because our method of consumption is inconsistent with our capabilities and our almost non-existent production."
In Lebanon, there are about 380 private vehicles for every thousand citizens, which is a high percentage for a developing and collapsing country, while the highest percentage in developed countries is 500 vehicles for every thousand individuals, according to the engineer.
In the eighties, the authorities completed a study to rehabilitate the infrastructure in preparation for the peace phase after the civil war, and one of its components is a strong and effective construction of shared transport, and translated into the 1994 plan - according to Samaan - and called it the "urban transport plan" based on 4 components:
First - Developing the road network through upper and lower corridors.
Second - Installing traffic lights and a control room to improve network service.
Third - a comprehensive plan for joint transportation that includes buses and "tramways".
Fourth - rearranging and organizing the parking garage.
According to Samaan's knowledge of the details of the project, he told Al Jazeera Net that the authorities exerted pressure to achieve the first item, albeit with scandalous randomness, given its close association with the contractors of the works, and improved the goals to a limited extent, at the expense of sidewalks and pedestrians.
As for the public transport file, it "remained postponed by successive governments, for vague reasons."
Semaan points out that Lebanon suffers huge losses due to the absence of a joint transport plan, amounting to about 20% of the national product annually, due to several factors;
such as wasted time on the roads, and unequal opportunities between regions due to the difficulties of commuting;
the fragility of traffic safety;
The area of the city crowded with cars has sagged at the expense of its urban and tourist polarization;
And the chaos of movement that followed doubled the environmental and health costs as a result of pollution.
Samaan calls for the creation of a subsidized transport network, as is the case with the countries of the world, and the necessity of negotiating with transport sector operators within cities in particular.
And because transportation is part of the production process - according to Samaan - the more its cost increases, it is negatively reflected;
"It should not constitute more than 25% of it, and in Lebanon it has become more than 70%, which means that we are facing a great economic sterility."