A proposal to reduce subsidies to 50 types of drugs and 60 percent of gasoline

The protests have returned to the streets, not against the imposition of a tax of $ 6 a month on the WhatsApp service, but for fundamental reasons related to getting a bite of bread and basic products to guarantee minimum living requirements. This happened as a result of the holding of a ministerial meeting in the government palace headed by the acting prime minister, Hassan Diab, to follow up on the support file, in the presence of the ministers of Defense, Finance, Economy, Industry, Agriculture, Energy and Social Affairs, together with the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh. The meeting presented the plans of their ministries to regulate the cost of imports and subsidies, provided that the meetings are completed today within the framework of detailed workshops chaired by each minister with the sectors involved in the scope of their ministry. What happened was supposed to happen at least from the beginning of the year, and under an effective government, not an interim government, pending the formation of a new government that would assume responsibility for this decision. In fact, concerned ministers resigned their duties before entering the cabinet during the interim period, and most of them failed to fulfill the minimum duties that come with it, while today they rush to come up with random ideas after Salameh spoke about the possibility of maintaining support for only two months. There are alternative options, of course, such as agreements with countries to secure goods at low prices, and the Iraqi offer to supply oil to Lebanon comes in this context, but the political authority that is waiting for the collapse acts as if its only option is to lift. completely subsidies. In light of the economic, financial and monetary crisis in Lebanon, a similar procedure will provoke an unprecedented social explosion, especially after the minimum wage fell in months from 450 dollars a month to less than 83 dollars, and is likely to collapse even more. No one paid attention to the conditions of workers and families, especially after the compound crisis triggered by the Corona pandemic, as a result of the imposition of a complete stone for weeks. In any case, this indicates the depth of the generalized collapse of state institutions and the absence of socioeconomic policies, and the dumping of the destiny of an entire people in the hands of one person, who is the governor of the Central Bank. The latter decided to cut support for basic materials such as medicines, wheat, diesel, gasoline and electricity. The poor only have to die of hunger, thirst, cold and disease, under the pretext of defending the remaining dollars of depositors, noting that Salama himself confirmed a few days ago, in an interview with the Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath channel, That depositors will not receive their deposits in dollars. From this point of view, during yesterday’s meeting in Serail, there was talk of reducing the electricity supply hours, even if they are few, instead of lifting electricity subsidies for those who consume a large amount of amps to power their palaces and luxury houses at the expense of the money of the Lebanese people. Most of them are businessmen, ministers, deputies and officials who are sitting at the table today to discuss “rationalizing support.”

A proposal was discussed to limit the subsidy to fewer than 50 types of drugs (chronic and incurable diseases), on the condition that the drug subsidy be reduced from 1,515 per dollar to 3,900 pounds per dollar (the drug whose price was around the 15 thousand pounds, its price would be 39 thousand pounds). As for the rest of the medicines, they will be left at the dollar price on the black market!
Regarding fuels, the proposal to reduce gasoline subsidies to the limits of 60 percent is being discussed, which would lead to an increase in the price of plate to some 40,000 Syrian pounds, maintaining the subsidy to the diesel as it is today.
It was also discussed reducing the amount of subsidized flour to be limited only to the package of bread, which means that the Ministry of Economy and those responsible for this particular file, were aware of the waste of subsidized flour in unnecessary products and only achieved double profit for bakery owners, but they did it with a blind eye. The reservation is over. In this context, the general director of Grains of the Ministry of Economy, Gerges Barbari, explained, in contact with the National Information Agency, that “what is being circulated on social networks about the elimination of flour subsidies is not correct ”, indicating that no decision was issued by the Ministry of Economy until now in this thread. Barbari pointed out the focus on “the flour with which Arab bread is made, because it is essential in the diet of the Lebanese consumer (…), announcing that the Minister of Economy will subsidize the amount of 27 thousand tons of flour destined for bread Arab, whose mechanisms will be discussed at a meeting of the ministry. ”

Do not advance on the path of government formation: Hariri’s visit is a “disappointment” for Aoun

But who will make sure that this amount is used to make bread? And what mechanism can ensure that the mills and ovens cartel does not move again to cut the bread of the market and claim that the subsidized amount has been exhausted? Most importantly, this decision was made by the Minister of Economy, Raoul Nehme, who could not control the prices of subsidized food products, and before that he succumbed to the greed of this cartel to increase the price of a package of bread and reduce your weight despite the allowance. Based on the above, it has become clear that the main effort of the interim government is to rationalize support as much as possible so as not to deplete the remaining amount of reserves, or around $ 800 million, while waiting for a new government to assume this responsibility. . The information indicates that Acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab refused to hold a government session or damaged the remaining reserve at the Central Bank of Lebanon on the grounds that this reserve belongs to the depositors and cannot be used. Therefore, meetings at the Serail are nothing more than an attempt to secure a little extra oxygen. Therefore, they have not yet discussed radical solutions to the crisis. There is only one proposal that has not yet been seriously raised on the table, which is the proposal to issue financing cards to some 600,000 families, to compensate poor families for part of the support that will be raised. But the discussion on this issue was also delayed, as it took months to put it into practice, and it will be discussed in the coming days, according to ministerial sources.

Hariri: No, for a turn.
Parallel to the harbinger of social explosion, there is a government stalemate that President-designate Saad Hariri is trying to revive with French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that he will visit Lebanon soon, as a show of goodwill to the foreign guest. In the wake of every international situation or event, Hariri is quick to suggest that he made an effort to form a government, while the reality is that 3 weeks passed without him attempting to take any initiative, following his insistence on implementing the US agenda of no represent Hezbollah in the government and appoint Christian ministers to bankrupt the President of the Republic. And the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil. Informed sources point out that Hariri’s visit to Baabda yesterday was a “new disappointment, which will push the President of the Republic himself to propose ideas himself as an effort to remove the situation from the stagnation that is occurring.” Contrary to what is rumored about Hariri’s presentation of a government draft, “no names were discussed, except for Hariri’s indication that the interior and communications ministries will be on his side, in exchange for energy and defense. remaining part of the president “. This means abandoning the rotation principle entirely and returning to bag distribution. Similar to what it was in the last Hariri government. According to sources, Aoun did not express any opinion on Hariri’s offer, only saying that he would study his proposal, while the prime minister-designate promised to return on Wednesday with a list of ministerial names to study. Here, there are two narratives, one of which says that Hariri, who required Aoun to be appointed two Christian ministers out of nine, returned and spoke about 6 ministers (including the minister of Tashnak) in exchange for a minister appointed by him, another for Marada and a third for the nationalist. Aoun did not agree with this and asked to appoint 7 ministers. As for the second narration, he denies the first occurrence in form and substance, stating that “this scenario never happened, and is part of some efforts to throw an obstacle to the President of the Republic, and suggest that Basilio is the one who obstructs the solution” . On the other hand, government sources speak of French and European pressure by adopting a unified stance towards Lebanon to urge it to form a government as soon as possible, under penalty of complete distancing and the imposition of sanctions, with what this means in terms of increase of the blockade. It comes as a continuation of the American plan to push the country into total collapse, to impose Washington’s conditions by force of fait accompli.

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