Gas stations will be closed tomorrow, announced spokesperson for the gas station owners’ syndicate Georges Brax. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A spokesperson for the gas station owners’ syndicate, Georges Brax, announced the open-ended closure of gas stations effective Thursday, due to issues with fuel distributors, he told L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• The distributors, Brax explained, are demanding to be paid in “fresh dollars,” a reference to cash USD, as opposed to "lollars," which are the US dollars that have been locked in banks since October 2019. According to the spokesperson, the gas stations do not have access to dollars provided by the Banque du Liban at the rate of BDL’s Sayrafa exchange platform, unlike fuel importers, and therefore have to suffer a loss of "LL35,000” per 20 liters of gasoline.
• Another spokesperson for gas station owners said Wednesday that when paying fuel distributors, some banks are now taking commissions up to 3 percent.
• A representative for fuel distributors, Fadi Abou Chakra, also pointed the finger at bank charges, explaining to the press that "BDL has stopped subsidizing 85 percent of the cost of gasoline, according to the Sayrafa rate, forcing importers to use banks and buy [US] dollars themselves from the market." Abou Chakra did not respond to requests for comment.
• On Wednesday afternoon, According to local television channel MTV, Energy Minister Walid Fayad said during a cabinet session that BDL had imposed new restrictions on transfers of dollars abroad, which "will cause queues in front of gas stations.”
• On Wednesday morning, fuel prices rose again, for the second day in a row.