Lebanese face new hardship as price of fuel quadruples – Roya News English

Lebanese face new hardship as price of fuel quadruples – Roya News English

Thursday, angry citizens closed several roads in Lebanon and cars crowded gas stations, a day after the Central Bank decided to open credits for purchasing fuel according to the black market exchange rate, which practically means lifting subsidies on these vital materials.

In light of the scarcity of the central bank's foreign currency reserves, the authorities began months ago to rationalize or lift subsidies on major commodities, most notably flour, fuel and medicine. Last month, the government agreed to finance the import of fuels at a price of 3900 pounds to the dollar, which led to a rise in its prices by more than thirty percent.

The price of the dollar was officially fixed before the unprecedented crisis that Lebanon witnessed about two years ago, at 1507 pounds, and it began to gradually rise until it became circulated today on the black market at more than twenty thousand pounds.