SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 29 March 2024, Friday |

Bread queues are back

The loaf crisis has returned to the fore again, and with it the queues in front of the bakeries that give little of it, amid accusations between the bakeries and the Ministry of Economy.
In the wake of the strike carried out by the employees of the Banque du Liban, the issue of the flour and bread crisis returned to the fore again, a few days after the market collapse, as it is expected to stop opening credits for importing flour and wheat from abroad, with the cessation of work inside the “Central”.

Accordingly, follow-up sources warned of the aggravation of the loaf crisis in Lebanon, if the strike continues, or turns into an open strike, noting that the existing stock, which is sufficient for about two weeks, will not remain long as the crisis continues.
Since the morning hours, the bakeries witnessed a huge crowd to buy a bundle of bread, after some of the bakeries stopped working because they ran out of flour.

The Minister of Economy in the caretaker government, Amin Salam, revealed that the subsidy on flour will be lifted after 9 months, which means that the price of a bundle of bread may reach 30,000 Lebanese pounds, pointing out that the agreement with the World Bank is to end subsidies on flour. But from today until now, it seems that the crisis of losing the loaf will have no end or end, and the Lebanese will live in this cycle.

On the problem of smuggling, Antoine Seif, head of the bakery owners’ syndicate in Mount Lebanon, told Sawt Beirut International that stopping smuggling is the responsibility of the Ministry and the security forces, and raising issues of smuggling, monopoly, the black market, or others, may sometimes be aimed at evading responsibility and wasting the actual cause of the crisis.

 

    Source:
  • Sawt Beirut International