(Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — The head of Bakery Owners' Syndicate, Ali Ibrahim, confirmed to L’Orient Today that Monday “will be the last day for making bread or distributing flour if funds are not secured [by Banque du Liban] to purchase wheat” imports.
Here’s what we know:
• Ibrahim said that flour “mills have been closed for five days,” and bakeries' supply of flour is only enough to produce bread today, warning that 90 percent of bakeries would close tomorrow if the issue is not resolved.
• Banque du Liban imposed new conditions on bank credits to buy wheat, making matters more complicated, Ibrahim added, saying that “Banque du Liban asked Prime Minister Najib Mikati for an authorization to spend money on the imported wheat.”
• Ibrahim revealed that after meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri over the weekend, Berri contacted Mikati, who assured him that he had signed the authorization and would send it on Monday to Banque du Liban.
• “Everything will resume to normal in 48 hours if BDL secures the funds needed,” assured Ibrahim.
• The Mill Owners’ Association announced in a statement last Thursday that in light of “flour shortages … exacerbated by delays in payments covering the cost of wheat from Banque du Liban,” mills would stop work.
• Also last Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that $15 million for wheat imports was approved by cabinet, saying that “official reports showed that large amounts of flour were being stockpiled in bakeries and depots either to be smuggled or sold on the black market.”
• Fears of compounding disruptions in wheat and bread supplies have risen since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, given that Lebanon imports the bulk of its wheat from the Black Sea region.