Manipulation of citizens and smuggling … Lebanon streamlines the problem | Phalanges

The president of the Consumer Protection Association, Zuhair Berro, drew attention to the “chaos” caused by the food basket and the inclusion of non-essential commodities with the aim of implementing certain traders, which no longer exists with the rationing of subsidies .

In an expected step, especially with the dwindling reserves of the Central Bank of Lebanon in foreign exchange, the Ministry of Economy announced the rationalization of support for the food basket by reducing the number of commodities in this basket by between 55 and 60 percent, that is, reducing its cost from 210 million dollars a month to less than 100 million. This helps extend your support for additional months.
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Economy launched the so-called subsidized food basket since last July, with the aim of ending the rise in the prices of food commodities with the scarcity of the dollar and its high price on the black market , especially since Lebanon imports more than 90 percent of these commodities. The basket included (before rationalization) 30 staple foods, in addition to 270 products classified as raw materials used in manufacturing. The support mechanism of this basket allowed the importer to secure the import dollar of the basic products included in it from the Central Bank of Lebanon on the basis of the 3900 exchange rate, that is, the average between the black market price (currently around 8000) and the official one (1515 pounds), but the Central Bank of Lebanon, which also supports wheat, medicines and fuel, Based on the official exchange rate, it was recently announced that it could no longer continue its subsidy due to the decline in foreign exchange reserves.

Since its launch, the food basket has received a lot of criticism regarding its inefficiency, especially because it did not contribute to reduce the prices of raw materials as indicated by the price index on more than one occasion. However, its rationalization did not start from the principle of reassessment, but came “with the aim of contributing to its continuation for a longer period”, according to the director. General Ministry of Economy Muhammad Abu Haidar. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, he noted that “raw materials and some goods classified as luxurious or non-essential, such as dried fruits and walnuts, have been removed.” Abu Haidar indicated that the rationing of aid will not affect food security, as aid continues for meat, milk, pasta, rice, sugar, lentils, beans, chickpeas and other basic materials.
The inclusion of walnuts, especially cashews and macadamia nuts, in a subsidized food basket is part of the “benefits” framework, based on the “quota principle”, according to Zuhair Berro, head of the Consumer Protection Association. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, he pointed out that “some companies affiliated with certain parties and political leaders do not work with basic materials, so their field of work is added to the subsidized basket, even if it is not basic, such as cashew nuts, for example, and all at the cost of depositors’ money. “
The inclusion of non-essential commodities in order to implement certain merchants, which no longer exists with the rationalization of subsidies, was not the only reason for criticizing the basket. The mechanism adopted in support “came to measure the merchants and at the expense of the citizen, who received only 3 percent of the subsidy,” he says. Pro.
Last week, the Ministry of Economy transferred two companies to the Public Ministry, to which subsidized products appeared in sales centers outside Lebanon, bringing back the discourse of smuggling these goods.
In this context, Barrow believes that “the smuggling of subsidized goods and their sale abroad generates large profits and new dollars for merchants,” and points out that smuggling is not the only door to manipulation, “since some Traders store these materials to sell after expected support subsides, so they can be a source of huge profits. illegal. “The fraud in the food basket is also represented by some merchants who manipulate the subsidized product and present it as a new product, denying it the characteristic of” support “, or that the merchant increases its price under the pretext of repackaging it, as Brow explains, like selling chicken at a different price, because it has been packed as a non-item, its price is specified in the ministry’s regulations.
Bro also points to the “chaos” caused by the food basket, “which supported a small number of the large monopoly merchants who owned the market, thus causing other merchants’ goods to go bad.”