Gas station in Lebanon. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Energy Ministry released new fuel prices on Tuesday, one day after Lebanon's central bank fully lifted the fuel subsidy following months of gradually lifting it.
The new prices, fully calculated at the lira-dollar parallel market exchange rate (36.000 LL on Tuesday morning), are as follows: 20 liters of 95-octane and 98-octane gasoline increased by LL8,000, reaching LL646,000 and LL661,000, respectively. Twenty liters of diesel now cost LL800,000, up LL10,000. A cylinder of household gas now costs LL354,000, up LL4,000.
The ratio of subsidized fuel import payments rose to 100 percent in March, but fell to 85 percent in July and then to 70 percent in mid-August when it began to be reduced on a weekly basis: 55 percent the week of Aug. 22, 40 percent the week after, and 20 percent last week.
Since mid-August, the price of 20 liters of gasoline (95 and 98-octane) has risen by less than LL100,000 and remains at around LL640,000, below the LL700,000 mark reached in June during the peak of world oil prices (more than $120 a barrel). However, there is no guarantee that the exchange rate will remain stable, so any changes in the exchange rate, no matter how large, are likely to be directly reflected in gasoline prices.