Lebanon: Importers of Basic Commodities Warn Against Ending Subsidies

People shop at a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir
People shop at a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon: Importers of Basic Commodities Warn Against Ending Subsidies

People shop at a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir
People shop at a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir

Since the beginning of 2020, the Lebanese have been suffering from a continuous and sharp rise in commodity prices, mainly due to the devaluation of the local currency against the US dollar in the parallel market.

The Central Bank (BDL) has been subsidizing basic commodities, including wheat, medicine and fuel. However, reports have emerged over the BDL’s inability to continue to subsidize the basic commodities, which would put them at the mercy of the fluctuating exchange rate.

Lifting subsidies on medicine would be a “humanitarian catastrophe”, as described by the head of the Drug Importers Syndicate, Karim Gebara.

“Citizens pay 35 percent of the medicine bill and they can barely afford it; so what if the subsidy is lifted and the value of the bill is doubled?” he asked.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Gebara said it was difficult to define the increase in prices.

“There will be no fixed price or threshold; the prices of medicine will be directly linked to the dollar exchange rate on the black market,” he noted.

If we consider that the exchange rate remains at its current value of LBP 7,500, then this means the price of any drug will be multiplied by five.

Gebara stressed that so far, the Syndicate has not been officially informed of BDL’s ending of subsidies, hoping that such a move, if taken, would not affect the medical sector.

The Syndicate of Gas Station Owners has not been officially informed either, but warned of a real crisis facing the sector and citizens if BDL goes ahead with such a plan.

The head of the syndicate, Sami Braks, stressed that lifting the subsidies would automatically mean an adjustment of fuel prices.

Economic Expert Elie Yashouei said that ending the subsidies has become inevitable, adding: “We will reach it sooner or later.”

“In light of the drastic decline in BDL’s foreign reserves … it no longer has enough funds to support basic commodities or even the 300 commodities in the approved food basket,” he said.

In the event that the prices of goods were determined by the current rate of the US dollar on the black market (USD1= LBP7,500), the price of a pack of bread will exceed LBP5,000, a kilo of chicken will be sold for LBP50,000, a kilo of meat for LBP80,000, and a box of Panadol medicine for LBP15,000.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.