A leaked letter on Thursday revealed a raise of customs tariffs by LL20,000 to the dollar. (Credit: Port of Beirut)
BEIRUT — Former Minister of Telecommunications Mohamed Choucair Monday criticized the decision to raise custom tariffs demanding that the tariffs should increase at a rate ranging between LL8,000 and LL10,000 against the dollar instead of LL20,000, according to a tweet by the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
A letter leaked on Thursday sent by Mikati to caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil shows him asking Khalil to go through with raising custom tariffs at the rate of LL20,000 against the dollar. On Tuesday, Mikati met with several ministers including Khalil in which the raising of the customs tariffs was reportedly decided.
Following a meeting Monday between Mikati and a delegation from the economic administrations headed by Choucair, the latter also stressed the need for a fair distinction between imported cars where “cheap cars used by the poor, including second-hand ones as well … must be kept at low custom tariffs,” adding that high custom tariffs should be added on expensive cars.
However, Choucair noted that such regulation would require a law passed in Parliament, adding that “it is unacceptable for the government to throw the issue at Parliament which, in turn, throws it back at the government.”
Choucair also said that “it is a crime for the customs tariffs to remain at the rate of LL1,500 per dollar,” amid the suspension of all state institutions as “the state is unable to secure the salaries of public sector employees.”
The public sector, including the judicial sector, has been paralyzed due to persistent strikes by employees who are demanding improved salaries and working conditions, ones that would cover rising living expenses exacerbated by the country’s deepening economic crisis.
Forces of Change MP Ibrahim Mneimneh on Friday also said that raising the custom tariffs happened in a “chaotic and biased way” and should have taken into account “uniting the currency rate” instead of its current form which is an “unfair distribution of financial losses.”
