Hassan Diab, the caretaker Prime Minister, chaired a ministerial meeting to discuss the electricity crisis in the afternoon at the Grand Serail, which included Ministers Ghazi Wazni, Raymond Ghajar, and Talal Hawat, as well as PCM Secretary-General Judge Mahmoud Makie and PM Advisors Khodor Taleb and Hussein Kaafarani.

“With regard to the $200 million advance, HE Premier Diab and HE President Aoun signed an unusual decision allowing BDL to open credits for the purchase of gasoline for Electricite du Liban,” the Minister of Energy said after the meeting. “The credit will be opened in two or three days, and the same will be true for fuel ships. As a result, we will be able to gradually restore normal power supply, allowing us to use this advance as long as possible until the summer, pending alternatives, such as importing fuel from the State of Iraq at affordable costs and with deferred payment, or forming a new government.”

“We visited Iraq last Monday and held negotiations with the ministries of oil and finance, as well as the Central Bank; we finalized a deal under which Iraq will provide us with 500,000 tons of heavy fuel,” Ghajar continued. “In terms of payment methods, a bank account will be opened in Lebanon for the benefit of the Central Bank of Iraq. These are technical procedures that are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Banks of both countries, not the Ministry of Energy. As a result, if the necessary procedures are completed, we will be able to import petroleum from Iraq very soon.”