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The economic and financial crisis in Lebanon has caused the boom and bust of what is known as the black market, which started with the dollar almost a year ago and expanded to include drugs, medical devices, diesel and infant formula, and even basic products. that he never imagined they had a black market, like ‘Nescafé’ and ‘coffee bleach’ ».
Perhaps the most popular substances on the black market recently are the drugs that have been reported to be effective in treating those with Corona, specifically the drug “ivermectin” which is not registered in Lebanon and has not been introduced by importers. ; Some traders introduced it for personal use and later sold it with the pill at high prices, according to a source from the Health Ministry.
Drug monopoly
The source indicates that the Ministry of Health sent the inspection to the pharmacist to detect these merchants, and that starting next Monday, one of the companies will begin to import this drug, after the Ministry of Health allowed it, so that the The remaining box sold for 7,000 pounds (less than $ 5) at the time it was sold. The pill costs more than $ 50.
In addition to this drug, a black market has also been active for “oximeter” devices that are designed to monitor oxygen level during the “Corona” infection period and oxygen delivery devices, as these devices are in short supply in pharmacies or their regular outlets as citizens rush to them after Corona’s high injury count in Lebanon. Hospitals are full and sold on the black market at double their real price, without medical supervision and sometimes not in accordance with specifications, which can endanger the lives of citizens, according to the Union of Importers of Lebanese Medical Supplies, Salma Asi.
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Thus, he points out that there are a number of merchants who worked with the start of the increase in the number of Corona to buy these devices from more than one source based on personal use, to return them and sell them on the black market. and reaping profits at the expense of citizens’ health, while others deliberately enter. Somehow these devices are foreign and unlicensed, and may not meet specifications, and he is selling them on the black market.
While Asi pointed out that oxygen meters are already available on the market in large quantities, which motivated the Union to issue regulations for companies authorized to sell them in order to preserve the health of citizens, indicating that the crisis of oxygen delivery devices continues. Since several of these devices remain confined at the airport for a week, due to the lack of compliance with official procedures to remove them despite the urgent need for them.
Assi warns citizens not to buy oxygen delivery devices from unqualified sources. Some of them supply normal air instead of oxygen.
Away from medicines and medical supplies, they became popular a while ago, and with the discontinuation of some types of “Nescafé” and crema de café (coffee mate) imported from the market, a black market sells these products at double the price and it exhibits them. publicly on social media pages. With every fuel crisis, the purchase of fuel oil and gasoline on the black market is active at high prices. Has Lebanon become a black market?
The real market: the black one!
Economist Elie Yashouei points out that the black market for the dollar is the real market, just like other free economy markets, and that the policies that the central bank followed prevented the existence of a money market, and when these policies fell, things returned to the basic rule without the presence of an authority to control these markets.
And Yashoei believes that when it comes to medical supplies and other goods, they are linked to the dollar, and two things apply to what happened recently in the way they are sold: First, the absence of the state. This allowed some to outsmart and rob the citizens, and secondly, its price increased as a natural result of the high price of the dollar.
And economics expert Walid Abu Suleiman points out that what Lebanon has achieved today was first prepared for it when Banque du Liban governor Riad Salameh announced that Lebanon is moving towards floating the pound in accordance with the World Bank, and then when the Ministry of Finance decided to calculate the value of the value added tax and income taxes In companies the price of the dollar in the parallel market (black market).
Abu Suleiman adds that what is happening is an indication that the monetary policy adopted by the Central Bank no longer exists, and that the real price of the dollar is on the black market on the basis of supply and demand, which naturally it means more inflation and a contraction in the purchasing power of citizens, and activating what is called the “shadow economy” or the “black market”.
