Lebanese now queue up for cooking gas

Lebanese now queue up for cooking gas

BEIRUT: Lebanese lined up in long queues yesterday to stock up on cooking gas following warnings of imminent shortages, as an economic crisis eats away at supplies of basic imports. Lebanon, grappling with an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet’s worse since the mid-19th century, has been hit in recent months by a wave of shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel.

Liquefied petroleum gas, usually sold in canisters and used widely in homes and businesses for cooking and heating, had been readily available in the market. But importers warned it would soon join the list of scarce goods, prompting a countrywide panic. “Our current stock will last one week,” said Farid Zeynoun, who heads a syndicate of petroleum gas distributors. “After which, if no solution is found, gas used in homes will be sold on the black market.”

Zeynoun blamed the crisis on a delay by the central bank in opening credit lines to fund imports. Gas is subsidized by the government with a set price, but dealers warn that if official supplies run dry, prices could shoot up by more than a third. Foreign currency reserves are rapidly depleting, forcing the country to