Bread, fuel, gas and electricity crises in Lebanon as dollar surges anew

Bread, fuel, gas and electricity crises in Lebanon as dollar surges anew

Lebanon was witnessing a host of renewed crises on Wednesday against the backdrop of a continuous surge of the dollar exchange rate on the black market.

“The flour crisis will grow and we will witness more queues outside bakeries,” Ali Ibrahim, the head of the Syndicate of Bakery Owners in Lebanon, told al-Jadeed TV, amid a shortage of Arabic bread in the market.

Antoine Seif, the head of the Syndicate of Bakery Owners in Mount Lebanon, meanwhile said that “bakeries do not possess a large quantity of flour and the available quantities are only sufficient for a few days, based on the size and consumption level of each bakery.”

“We are in a crisis and six mills have stopped operating due to the failure to pay for wheat at the silos,” Seif added.

Economy Minister Amin Salam meanwhile reassured that the subsidization of Arabic bread “will continue.”

“I will not accept that subsidization be lifted off bread in an arbitrary manner… In the (Cabinet) session of Friday, I will ask the Finance Ministry to pay for the (wheat) ships,” Salam added, noting that a line of credit of $21 million is needed to subsidize the quantity of wheat.

He also warned that measures will be taken