Caretaker Economy Minister AmineSalam, during a press conference in September 2021. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam announced Friday that a committee made up of judicial, security and managerial personnel has been formed to police bread production at bakeries and make sure subsidized wheat is being evenly distributed among bakeries and mills and used exclusively for the production of Arabic bread.
Here’s what we know:
• Salam said in a press conference Friday that this step was taken to thwart merchants selling wheat on the black market. The initiative will include establishing detailed routine tables with the mills and bakeries names and the wheat amounts delivered to them.
• Salam added that the committee will be responsible for distributing wheat vouchers to the mills and bakeries indicating how many tons of wheat they will be granted to monitor where the wheat is ending up.
• Salam accused some bakeries of hoarding wheat, claiming that bakeries and some merchants are exploiting subsidized wheat. The head of the Bakery Owners' Syndicate, Ali Ibrahim, on Wednesday announced his resignation from his position and said that he “cannot do anything anymore to protect the noble bakery owners.”
• The newly formed committee will have the power to coordinate with other public authorities, such as municipalities, “to implement this mission,” Salam said, noting that the committee will be filing routine reports to Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, who, along with President Michel Aoun, signed the decision to form the committee.
• Salam also said that 50,000 tons of imported wheat will be arriving to Lebanon within 10 days. He added that Lebanon needs 36,000 tons of wheat per month to produce Arabic bread. He added that the next 10 days until the wheat arrives “are going to be difficult.”
• Last Thursday, parliamentary committees approved a World Bank loan of $150 million to Lebanon to finance wheat imports. The loan, which was approved by the World Bank on May 6 and still must be voted on in Parliament, was made to “finance immediate wheat imports to avoid the disruption in supply over the short term and help secure affordable bread for poor and vulnerable households,” a World Bank spokesperson told L’Orient Today.
• Salam said today that the parliament will pass the loan when it convenes on Tuesday.