Shortage of Financial Stamps Complicates Public Transactions in Lebanon

The Lebanese central bank in Beirut. (Reuters)
The Lebanese central bank in Beirut. (Reuters)
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Shortage of Financial Stamps Complicates Public Transactions in Lebanon

The Lebanese central bank in Beirut. (Reuters)
The Lebanese central bank in Beirut. (Reuters)

State institutions and private companies in Lebanon are suffering from a shortage of official stamps that are needed to be glued onto all official transactions and company bills. The issue has led to chaos in public institutions and stripped the treasury of millions of dollars in revenues, exacerbating the financial crisis. Officials have meanwhile, distanced themselves from the issue.

The stamps shortage started weeks ago, especially after Hassan Diab’s government was granted confidence and institutions commenced regular work again after most of them had at least partially shut down during the October 17 popular uprising.

A source from the Ministry of Finance told Asharq Al-Awsat that the ministry has started to “at least partially address the crisis”. He added that they will be “printing 8 million 250 LBP stamps that would be enough for 2020, pending that the new bid on 1,000 LBP and more stamps is completed”.

This lack of stamps in ministries, state institutions, notaries and private companies has stopped thousands of transactions and has exacerbated the public resentment towards the state’s apathy towards people’s suffering.

A source from the Ministry of Finance has revealed that the ministry has “attracted offers to print 8 million 1,000 LBP stamps, but until this is over, it has found a temporary solution that would allow some institutions to collect the price of the stamp without actually placing it on the transaction and providing a receipt with the stamp’s value.” The solution has been adopted in real estate, car registration transactions and other important deals that cannot be postponed.

Private companies have sounded the alarm after the could no longer issue any bill unless a stamp was placed onto it for the treasury to collect its value. A source informed on the crisis mentioned that “there is a real problem with the ministry collecting financial dues, bills and the value added tax because companies are unable to issue these bills without stamps”.

The Lebanese state’s revenue has receded to less than half after the popular uprising started as citizens refrained from paying due bills, whether electricity or water, car and automobile maintenance and even landline bills. The revenues from stamps, however, remained the same as people needed them for official transactions.

On Sunday, mayors in the northern Akkar region brought this crisis up with the MP Hadi Hbeish and raised their complaints to him about the delay in their work and citizens’ transactions.

“We have to stand by our people in these difficult and harsh circumstances,” Hbeish said, acknowledging that the shortage of stamps was hindering transaction.

He called on the Finance Minister to resolve this crisis as soon as possible, promising to follow up on the issue, saying the people already have to contend with the health, economic and psychological crises and can do without another one.



Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
TT

Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Iran-Israel war has helped strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically and overseas, just as his grip on power looked vulnerable.

On the eve of launching strikes on Iran, his government looked to be on the verge of collapse, with a drive to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews threatening to scupper his fragile coalition.

Nearly two years on from Hamas's unprecedented attack in 2023, Netanyahu was under growing domestic criticism for his handling of the war in Gaza, where dozens of hostages remain unaccounted for, said AFP.

Internationally too, he was coming under pressure including from longstanding allies, who since the war with Iran began have gone back to expressing support.

Just days ago, polls were predicting Netanyahu would lose his majority if new elections were held, but now, his fortunes appear to have reversed, and Israelis are seeing in "Bibi" the man of the moment.

– 'Reshape the Middle East' –

For decades, Netanyahu has warned of the risk of a nuclear attack on Israel by Iran -- a fear shared by most Israelis.

Yonatan Freeman, a geopolitics expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Netanyahu's argument that the pre-emptive strike on Iran was necessary draws "a lot of public support" and that the prime minister has been "greatly strengthened".

Even the opposition has rallied behind him.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is my political rival, but his decision to strike Iran at this moment in time is the right one," opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote in a Jerusalem Post op-ed.

A poll published Saturday by a conservative Israeli channel showed that 54 percent of respondents expressed confidence in the prime minister.

The public had had time to prepare for the possibility of an offensive against Iran, with Netanyahu repeatedly warning that Israel was fighting for its survival and had an opportunity to "reshape the Middle East."

During tit-for-tat military exchanges last year, Israel launched air raids on targets in Iran in October that are thought to have severely damaged Iranian air defenses.

Israel's then-defense minister Yoav Gallant said the strikes had shifted "the balance of power" and had "weakened" Iran.

"In fact, for the past 20 months, Israelis have been thinking about this (a war with Iran)," said Denis Charbit, a political scientist at Israel's Open University.

Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Netanyahu has ordered military action in Gaza, against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, as well as targets in Syria where long-time leader Bashar al-Assad fell in December last year.

"Netanyahu always wants to dominate the agenda, to be the one who reshuffles the deck himself -- not the one who reacts -- and here he is clearly asserting his Churchillian side, which is, incidentally, his model," Charbit said.

"But depending on the outcome and the duration (of the war), everything could change, and Israelis might turn against Bibi and demand answers."

– Silencing critics –

For now, however, people in Israel see the conflict with Iran as a "necessary war," according to Nitzan Perelman, a researcher specialized in Israel at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France.

"Public opinion supports this war, just as it has supported previous ones," she added.

"It's very useful for Netanyahu because it silences criticism, both inside the country and abroad."

In the weeks ahead of the Iran strikes, international criticism of Netanyahu and Israel's military had reached unprecedented levels.

After more than 55,000 deaths in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, and a blockade that has produced famine-like conditions there, Israel has faced growing isolation and the risk of sanctions, while Netanyahu himself is the subject of an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.

But on Sunday, two days into the war with Iran, the Israeli leader received a phone call from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has held talks with numerous counterparts.

"There's more consensus in Europe in how they see Iran, which is more equal to how Israel sees Iran," explained Freeman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Israel was doing "the dirty work... for all of us."

The idea that a weakened Iran could lead to regional peace and the emergence of a new Middle East is appealing to the United States and some European countries, according to Freeman.

But for Perelman, "Netanyahu is exploiting the Iranian threat, as he always has."