Grains of wheat pictured at a mill in Beirut on March 1, 2022. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Banque du Liban decided Tuesday to open lines of credit for subsidizing wheat using money from the International Monetary Fund allocated Special Drawing Rights, a spokesperson for BDL told L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• In August 2021, Lebanon received an allocation of Special Drawing Rights, worth around $1 billion, from the International Monetary Fund. A spokesperson for BDL told L’Orient Today that the central bank will open lines of credit for wheat subsidies using this SDR money, but could not specify the amount of money paid.
• Amid talks about lifting subsidies on wheat, Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan on Tuesday ruled out any “orientation towards a lifting of subsidies on flour,” saying “that nobody wants to do it, at least in the short term.”
• The president of the Bakery Owners’ Syndicate, Ali Ibrahim, told L'Orient Today on Monday that “[Monday] will be the last day to produce bread or distribute flour if the necessary funds are not secured [by BDL] for import wheat.”