Union members representing the second-hand vehicle sector stage a sit-in in front of Beirut port on Jan. 17, 2023. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Scores of union members representing the second-hand vehicle sector organized a sit-in on Tuesday in front of the Beirut port, causing heavy traffic amid a relatively large presence of anti-riot police and army members, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported.
The members of this sector were calling for an adjustment of the customs duties applicable to used cars, which have been calculated since December using an exchange rate of LL15,000 to the US dollar, instead of the official dollar-to-lira peg of LL1,507.5. Protesters on Tuesday demanded that the government calculate custom duties at LL8,000 to a dollar rate — the so-called "lollar" rate, i.e. the rate at which commercial banks pay out dollar cheques — instead of LL15,000.
Addressing the crowd, a protester claimed that the unions "received a promise from the government that tomorrow their issue would be discussed during cabinet's meeting," without revealing who made the promise.
The official agenda for the cabinet meeting, sent Monday by the Grand Serail, does not mention the second-hand vehicle sector's demands.
The increase of the exchange rate used for the calculation of customs duties on imported products is referred to by the authorities as the “customs dollar." The Finance Ministry imposed it in the the 2022 budget on Nov. 15. It has the effect of multiplying customs duties tenfold to offset some of the effects of the lira's depreciation on the state's tax revenues. The 2022 budget also imposed an additional fee comprised of 3 percent of the price excluding tax on all products subject to 11 percent VAT, which includes used non-commercial vehicles.
Union members representing the second-hand vehicle sector stage a sit-in in front of Beirut port on Jan. 17, 2023. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Local car importer George Zeiter told L'Orient Today that his sector has multiple demands. "Our sector is suffocating in all aspects," Zeiter said. "The issue of the customs duties is illegal and not fair. They increased the customs tariffs to LL15,000 without adjusting [other] modalities accordingly because there is no cabinet."
"It's essentially about updating the existing thresholds," the president of the union of used car importers, Elie Azzi, told L'Orient-Le Jour in December.
Meanwhile, controversy over the caretaker cabinet’s ability to meet amid the presidential vacuum opened by the end of Michel Aoun’s term on Oct. 31 has stalled the cabinet's work as well as the approval of funding for several utilities and salary settlements in Lebanon.
"We cannot tolerate their mistakes and their failures as a state any longer," Zeiter said. "We demand that they either decrease the custom tariff to LL8,000 or amend the modalities, we are not against increasing the custom tariff but let them increase according to the logic and law."
Union members representing the second-hand vehicle sector stage a sit-in in front of Beirut port in Jan. 17, 2023. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The car importer also said that two syndicate representatives of the second-hand vehicle sector are discussing the issue with the concerned ministries today but if their demands are not met, Zeiter said there will be an "escalation" in which other sectors "who stand in solidarity with us will join."
Earlier during the protest, some protesters attempted to block the highway adjacent to the Beirut port, leading to scuffles with army members who resorted to violence, hitting protesters "on their heads" with batons to prevent them from blocking the road, according to Zeiter.
"We are peaceful, we came here with no rocks or anything to demand our rights and the rights of all Lebanese as around 20 to 30 sectors depend on our sector, if we're not working, they are also not working."
Reporting contributed by Matthieu Karam