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FUEL PRICES

Fuel prices increased this morning for a second time in 48 hours. The official prices of 20 liters of 95-octane and 98-octane gasoline are now set at LL310,800 and LL319,600, diesel at LL311,000, and cooking gas at LL266,000 per cylinder

Fuel prices increased this morning for a second time in 48 hours. The official prices of 20 liters of 95-octane and 98-octane gasoline are now set at LL310,800 and LL319,600, diesel at LL311,000, and cooking gas at LL266,000 per cylinder

The Energy Ministry has once again hiked fuel prices, for a second time in 48 hours. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)

BEIRUT — For the second time in 48 hours, fuel prices have increased in Lebanon, in a country mired in a severe economic crisis accompanied by hyperinflation that has pushed nearly 80% of the population below the poverty line. 

Here's what we know:

    • According to the new official prices published by the Ministry of Energy, the price of 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline has increased by LL2,300, from  LL308,500 to LL310,800. The same amount of 98 octane gasoline, a product almost impossible to find on the Lebanese market, is set at LL319,600, up from LL317,600, an increase of LL2,000. The price of diesel has increased by LL18,400 and is now set at LL311,000. A cooking gas cylinder will be sold at LL266,000, an increase of LL14,900.

    • On Thursday, Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad tried to reassure the Lebanese that there was "no shortage of gasoline" in the country, amid fears of a return to the scenes of gas station lines experienced in recent months.

    • The public's nervousness about fuel supplies, which has caused some congestion at gas pumps in the country, follows a decision by the central bank that asked station owners to provide 10 percent of the dollars required for the import bill, buying them on the parallel market, where the dollar has been trading above LL22,000, while the central bank will be responsible for providing the remaining 90 percent at a rate currently set at LL19,000.

    •  This change in mechanism comes a few weeks after Banque du Liban completely removed, without clearly announcing it, subsidies on some fuel imports, put in place in October 2019 at the beginning of the economic and financial crisis. Since then, while BDL until Tuesday had still provided 100 percent of the dollars required by importers of gasoline, importers of gas and diesel have had to turn to the parallel market.

    •  The value of the Lebanese pound on the parallel market recorded on Friday morning a new strong depreciation, the national currency trading at about LBP 22,700 against the dollar, according to the electronic platform lirarate.org, while the official rate remains fixed at LBP 1,507.5.

BEIRUT — For the second time in 48 hours, fuel prices have increased in Lebanon, in a country mired in a severe economic crisis accompanied by hyperinflation that has pushed nearly 80% of the population below the poverty line. Here's what we know:    • According to the new official prices published by the Ministry of Energy, the price of 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline has...