George Brax, spokesperson for the gas station owners’ syndicate, said that diesel prices could decrease further in the coming days. (Credit: João Sousa/L’Orient Today)
BEIRUT – Gasoline prices rose Tuesday morning, while diesel prices witnessed a sharp decrease.
Here’s what we know:
• The last fuel price change came Friday, just four days ago.
• Twenty liters of 95-octane gasoline now cost LL325,000, an increase of LL1,800 from Friday.
• Twenty liters of 98-octane gasoline cost LL336,400, an increase of LL2,000 from Friday.
• Diesel prices went down by LL20,500 to reach LL337,100 per 20 liters, while the price of household gas decreased by LL14,900 to reach LL297,200.
• Spokesperson for the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners George Brax clarified in a statement that Banque du Liban’s decision to raise the US dollar to Lebanese lira exchange rate from 21300 per dollar to 22100 is the main reason for today’s hike in prices. BDL subsidizes 85 percent of gasoline imports at this rate.
• He added that diesel prices went down because global prices went down by $12 per kiloliter. The decline in the dollar to lira exchange rate on the parallel market from more than LL28,000 last week to LL27,000 also contributed to the decrease in prices.
• Brax anticipated that the coming days could witness additional decreases in the price of fuel if the parallel market exchange rate stabilizes and global prices continue to go down due to fears of another economic depression amid the spread of COVID-19’s Omicron variant.