Fuel importing companies in Lebanon do not know if they should supply fuel to the market or not because they have been in a state of “loss” since Banque Du Liban’s announcement of lifting fuel subsidies.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Association of Petroleum Importing Companies in Lebanon claimed that the Ministry of Energy and Water asked them to price fuel at the 3,900 LBP/Dollar exchange rate while Banque Du Liban asked them to do so at the black market rate (around 20,000 LBP/Dollar).
Due to this confusion, the group requested clarification from the Ministry about which price to use but have not gotten any answer yet. This created a state of loss among the companies who “do not know what to do” according to the Head of the Syndicate of Owners of Petroleum Importing Companies, George Fayad.
The companies also do not clearly know whether BDL meant the black market rate or the “Sayrafa” rate which has added to their confusion.
Fuel importing companies will not be supplying the commodity until a unified price between BDL and the Ministry of Energy and Water is announced.
The remaining amount of fuel is expected to last for three days at most after which the crisis will deteriorate even more.
