Lebanon’s energy minister sounds alarm over power supply

Lebanon’s energy minister sounds alarm over power supply

BEIRUT: There will be "disastrous consequences" for Lebanon if a crucial fuel subsidy is not approved, the country's energy minister warned on Thursday. Lawmakers are meeting on Friday for a parliamentary session and one of the agenda items is to agree on subsidizing the national electricity company, Electricite du Liban (EDL), in order to buy fuel and provide electricity. After meeting with President Michel Aoun on Thursday, the energy minister sounded the alarm. "Lebanon may go into total darkness by the end of this month if the EDL is not subsidized to buy the fuel," warned Raymond Ghajar. "This will cause disastrous consequences for various sectors, especially health and hospitalization, in light of the current epidemiological conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Global darkness will also affect food, security and public safety, as well as on the telecommunications and internet sector." He said that approving a contribution was required and not an advance. "The problem today is that we used about LBP700 billion ($464. 34 million) from the 2020 budget out of LBP1, 500 billion. We had about LBP300 billion remaining, which was used during the past three months to buy fuel." Another item for parliamentary discussion is a proposed