Three tankers have arrived in Lebanon and are said to be unloading their precious cargoes of fuel, we learned from a media source. This information comes as Lebanon is going through a serious economic crisis that was revealed in May 2019 by a shortage of liquidity in foreign currencies and the appearance of a black market.
Since then the situation has deteriorated further, with the impossibility for the Lebanese to even buy fuels and even less fuel oil necessary for hospitals, bakeries but also for power stations, inducing a successive collapse of various sectors such as those of the distribution of waters.
In addition, fuel prices rose at the start of the month by 30% after the Lebanese authorities decided to increase the parity rate used under the Bank of Lebanon’s subsidy program from LL / USD 1507 to 3 900 LL / USD bringing the price from 20 liters to 76,000 LL. The price of a 20-liter can of gasoline could even reach 360,000 LL, said a representative of the owners of gas stations this morning.
The unloading of these tankers however remains dependent on the release by the Bank of Lebanon of the credits necessary to pay the owners of the cargoes. For the time being, it turns out to be unable, week after week, to pay these sums against the backdrop of monetary reserves which are now insufficient.