Traders did not show sympathy to the population when the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound depreciated and the economic crisis started. As soon as the value of the dollar increased, the price of all items and products in marketplaces and supermarkets skyrocket, to insanely high heights. As a result, the average Lebanese citizen can no longer take the anarchy, and every day brings a new disaster that threatens his livelihood.

Hani Bohsali, the head of the Food Importers Syndicate, joined us via phone to provide further light on this matter.

When the dollar climbs, traders hurry to raise prices, but when the dollar falls, citizens are unaffected by the drop in commodity prices. Why isn’t there any monitoring to such a robbery? Until the dollar rises again, certain commodities will stay unpriced. Isn’t this a breach of the Consumer Protection Service’s and related ministries’ legal obligations?

Imad Kreidieh, Director General of Ogero, declined to discuss the telecoms and Internet sector’s impending insolvency, stating that the possibility of bankruptcy is a dismal scenario because all authorities are aware of the sector’s importance in the country’s economic cycle.

If there are serious and negative indicators for the telecommunications and Internet sector, Kreidieh added, at the very least the sector will not go bankrupt, stressing that the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Ogero Authority are doing everything they can, in collaboration with relevant officials, to avoid reaching this stage, provided they work on an integrated economic plan.