The food importers syndicate yesterday asked the government not to change the exchange rate at which customs duties are charged on foodstuffs. (Credit: Céline Abboud)
Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.
Parliament is set to convene today at 11 a.m. to tackle an agenda of three-dozen items, including amendments needed to unlock World Bank funding for a social assistance program. While the World Bank approved the $246 million Emergency Social Safety Net in January, Parliament went on to make changes to the program without the international organization’s greenlight, leaving the program in limbo. Other items on the legislature’s agenda today include additional funding for state telecoms company Ogero, compensation and health care benefits for victims of the Aug. 15 fuel tanker explosion in Tleil and their relatives, and amendments to a law obliging banks to permit international transfers of $10,000 for Lebanese students abroad. Parents of Lebanese students abroad have cried foul that the law, passed last year by Parliament, has not been implemented in full.
One item that did not make it to Parliament’s agenda was a draft for a capital control law, which failed to pass a joint committee yesterday. The heads of the legislature’s finance and justice committees sharply criticized the latest draft of the long-awaited capital control law, which has been in the works for over two years. Discussions were postponed at the previous joint committee session, held on Dec. 1, due to unresolved issues with the International Monetary Fund regarding the capital controls issue. The draft, introduced by MP Nicolas Nahas (Azm Movement/Tripoli) contains articles that consolidate power in the hands of the central bank. Nahas is, unofficially, part of Premier Najib Mikati’s negotiating team with the IMF. The draft would also retroactively legalize large transfers outside the country made by elites while ordinary citizens watched the value of their deposits crumble.
A delegation from the IMF is due to meet Mikati today as part of a trip to Lebanon. Headed by Ernesto Ramirez-Rigo, an IMF official set to become the organization’s point man for discussions with Lebanon, the delegation arrived yesterday, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent. Mikati’s cabinet resumed talks with the IMF after coming to office in September; however, it will need to undertake reforms before being able to unlock assistance from the Fund.
New COVID-19 rules for passengers arriving at Beirut's airport will go into effect on Dec. 15, the Transport Ministry said yesterday. The announcement amends a similar document issued last week, which had set a Jan. 1 date for changes. Starting in a week, all passengers must register on a new electronic platform before boarding any flight to Lebanon. The window of time in which to get a pre-travel PCR test will shrink from 96 hours to 48 hours before arrival. Fully vaccinated travelers do not need a pre-travel PCR test but will be required to take a PCR at the airport on arrival, as will those without vaccination. Upon arrival, all visitors will need to self-isolate for at least 24 hours until they receive a negative result from their on-arrival PCR test. More details are available here.
The food importers syndicate called on the government not to alter the exchange rate at which customs duties are charged on foodstuffs, warning that doing so would harm “food security.” Importers pay customs duties on the value of products brought into the country, a significant source of revenue for the heavily indebted government. Those duties are still calculated at the official exchange rate of LL1,507.5 to the US dollar, far below the central bank’s Sayrafa rate and the parallel market rate. The syndicate warned that effectively increasing taxes on food imports would drive their prices higher. As it is, year-on-year inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages reached 303.66 percent in October. Early last month Mikati revealed that the cabinet will likely raise the customs exchange rate on at least some products at its next session to help fill the state’s empty coffers. However, his cabinet has not met since Oct. 12 due to an ongoing row over Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
The land transport unions warned they will go on strike Thursday after the government failed to make good on promises that narrowly averted a strike in October. On Oct. 26, hours before a strike was set to begin the following day, the government made a series of commitments to support operators of shared transportation vehicles, including a fuel voucher system due to be rolled out in December. Those plans have not yet materialized, leaving operators to suffer from increasing fuel prices.