The army deployed, Saturday, August 14, in gas stations in Lebanon, plagued by serious fuel shortages, the governor of the Central Bank refusing to restore subsidies while one of the main hospitals in the country has warned that it was going to have to close its doors, evoking a “Imminent disaster”.
Lebanon has been going through one of the worst economic crises in the world since 1850 since the end of 2019, according to the World Bank, and is experiencing significant fuel shortages, which affect the supply of basic goods.
“I will not go back on (the decision to) raise fuel subsidies unless the use of mandatory (currency) reserves is legalized”, declared the director of the Central Bank (BDL), Riad Salamé, at the microphone of a local radio. “We still have $ 14 billion in (mandatory) reserves, in addition to $ 20 billion in external assets”, he clarified. These reserves exceeded $ 30 billion before the crisis.
The BDL announced on Wednesday its decision to grant credit lines only at the black market rate for importing fuel, causing anger and panic in the country and raising fears of yet another increase in prices and shortages, including of bread.
Several establishments have had to close their doors for lack of diesel to power private generators, while power outages peak at more than twenty-two hours a day.
The American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), one of the country’s leading private hospitals, warned on Saturday of a “Imminent disaster”, saying he was forced to cease his activities within 48 hours if he did not obtain fuel. “Forty sick adults and fifteen children, on respirators, will die immediately”, warns the AUBMC in a press release. “180 people suffering from renal failure will die of poisoning after a few days (…). Several hundred cancer patients, adults and children, will die in the coming weeks ”, adds the AUBMC.
Seventy-eight thousand liters of gasoline seized
On Saturday, endless lines stretched out in front of gas stations, as fuel delivery trucks were stormed by angry citizens, local media reported. Some gas stations have closed to keep fuel stock pending further price hikes.
In a statement, the army threatened to “Search closed service stations, confiscate all quantities of gasoline stored there (…) and distribute them directly and free of charge” motorists. According to correspondents from Agence France-Presse (AFP), soldiers deployed en masse in gas stations imposed the opening of several of them in the north of Beirut and elsewhere in the early afternoon.
The army said it had seized more than 78,000 liters of gasoline stored in two service stations as well as 57,000 liters of diesel in a third, located in the east of the country. She shared images on social media showing soldiers filling vehicle tanks themselves at gas stations.
Riad Salamé on Saturday criticized fuel importers and distributors, accused of taking advantage of subsidies and storing large quantities to sell them at a higher price on the black market. “It is unacceptable that we import $ 820 million worth of fuel and that there is no diesel, gasoline or electricity” on the local market, he lamented, adding that this amount should be enough for three months, “Not just a month”.
In office since 1993, Mr. Salamé is accused by the street of having, like the barons of Lebanese politics, led the country adrift and transferred large sums abroad during the popular protest of October 2019, as well as having imposed draconian banking restrictions, still in force. He is the subject of judicial investigations in Lebanon, Switzerland and France for several cases, including embezzlement of public funds.