Fadi Abu Chakra, head of the fuel distributors' syndicate. (NNA)
BEIRUT — Fadi Abou Chakra, the head of fuel distributors' syndicate, told the National News Agency Friday that "fuel shipments are starting to arrive in Lebanon,” adding that “next week we will see gasoline and diesel prices drop, if banks and black market prices remain the same.”
Here’s what we know:
• Chakra stressed “companies and the state need to import more oil.”
• Earlier Friday, George Brax, a member of the gas station owners syndicate, issued a statement attributing Lebanon’s increased fuel prices to “the Russian attacks on Ukraine leading to the rise in global fuel prices.”
• Brax said: "In today's pricing table, the Banque du Liban raised the dollar exchange rate from LL20,200 to LL20,900 to secure the import of 85 percent of gasoline. The dollar exchange rate approved for the importation of 15 percent of gasoline – which importing companies and stations must secure in cash, calculated according to the parallel market rate – rose from LL 20,707 to LL21,457.
• He said that the global rise in oil prices reflected in today’s schedule has made imported goods more expensive, pointing out that “the price of a kiloliter of gasoline is up by $17.07 and diesel is up by $32.”