Commenting on the current drug shortages and as accusations of the Central Bank’s refusal to grant the lines of credit necessary for imports of essential products multiply, the central council of the Banque du Liban said that the bills for drugs and medical supplies in the first half of 2021 exceed the total bill for the year 2020.
Thus, the central bank indicates that it has already paid $ 536 million for importing drugs as of June 30, 2021, while the value submitted for prior approval was estimated at $ 445 million. The total import bill would therefore reach $ 1.5 billion on that date, while the Banque du Liban would have financed $ 1,173 million in drugs in 2020. Consequently, the BdL would not have settled a balance of 445 million dollars until today.
The BdL would also have financed the import of 20 million dollars of infant milk against 17 million for the corresponding period of 17. However, it is still missing from the shelves of pharmacies.
The Bank of Lebanon also accuses the government authorities of being at the origin of the situation, “because of the inaction of the government to take the necessary measures to remedy it”, without saying more.
This press release comes as attacks on pharmacists increase in Lebanon. Last week, a 10-month-old girl would have died for lack of the drugs necessary to treat her, accuses her family, which the hospital and the council of the medical order refute.
In addition, importers of drugs accuse the Bank of Lebanon of not having paid the sums necessary to import many molecules necessary to treat people with chronic diseases or suffering from cancer. In addition, they note that the local health situation has deteriorated since last year due to the epidemic linked to covid19 in Lebanon, de facto increasing medical expenses, which the BdL does not seem to take into account.
On the authorities’ side, they made numerous raids on the warehouses of fuel importers and seized some of the goods, accusing them of storing them pending the imminent lifting of the subsidy program for the purchase of essential products for lack of monetary reserves available.
