Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur
By Najia Houssari – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Lebanon continued its freefall into economic turmoil on Friday, with the medical, fuel, and food crises worsening and no political initiative being taken to overcome the deteriorating situation. The value of the Lebanese pound dropped to record lows, trading at 23,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the black market. This crash was at least partly due to a speech given by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday evening, in which he reaffirmed his hostile positions toward Saudi Arabia and called on the Lebanese to have “patience,” offering no solutions to their mounting problems. Fuel prices suddenly shot up on Friday. The price of a 20-liter gasoline canister ranged between 310,800 and 319,600 Lebanese pounds, the price of a diesel canister reached 311,000 pounds, and gas cylinders were selling for 266,000 pounds. The average price of fuel is now equivalent to half of the minimum wage.
Gas station owners reported an approximately 50 percent “decline in the sale of fuel.” Meanwhile, Economy Minister Amin Salam on Thursday decided to reduce the weight of a bundle of bread while maintaining its current price, which is the highest it has ever reached. A 1,050-gram bundle is now sold for 9,500 Lebanese pounds. The Ministry of Economy attributed this to “the high prices of flour, diesel and other materials.”