The cabint chaired by Najib Mikati (c) meeting at the Grand Serail in Beirut, February 6, 2023. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker cabinet met Monday to approve several measures, including opening a line of credit for wheat imports and funding for the education sector.
The caretaker government also addressed the fallout of the deadly earthquake that was severely felt in the early hours of Monday morning and announced a team of Lebanese rescue workers will be dispatched to assist Ankara in the rescue operations.
Other issues were postponed, including financing the municipal elections scheduled for next May, the study of a draft decree to increase transport allowances in the public sector, and the payment of Lebanon's annual contribution to the UN.
Education, health and wheat
At the end of the cabinet meeting at the Grand Serail, caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced that "all the demands" of his ministry on the agenda were approved. "On the other hand, those formulated by the different teachers' groups still need to be discussed," he added, indicating that the claims of the different teachers' leagues require the approval of the Ministry of Finance.
"The largest part of the cabinet dealt with education," Halabi said, before confirming the government approved the monthly payment of contractual teachers with an hourly wage at the Lebanese University. Until now, this category of teachers received their full salary at the end of the year.
The outgoing Minister of Information, Ziad Makari, said that LL1.5 billion in aid was approved for the public sector in general, and that "the same amount has also been granted for the Ministry of Education."
Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad said "subsidies on cancer drugs will not be lifted," while the majority of subsidies placed on imports at the beginning of Lebanon's economic crisis have since been removed.
"The cabinet decided to approve an advance from the Treasury to price drugs on the basis of a rate of LL1,500 to the dollar," he added. The official rate rose to LL15,000 on Feb. 1.
Finally, the cabinet decided to open a credit of an additional $8 million to subsidize wheat imports in Lebanon, announced caretaker Minister of Economy Amin Salam.
"There is no risk of a wheat crisis in the next two weeks," he said.
'Lebanon is ready to fully assist Syria.'
After the deadly earthquake that killed thousands in Syria and Turkey on Monday, Lebanon's cabinet also announced aid to both countries.
Caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassine said a team of several dozen rescue workers will be sent to Turkey on Monday afternoon to help local relief efforts.
Following the announcement, the army announced via Twitter that it would send 20 military engineers to Turkey.
"Lebanon is ready to fully assist Syria, which has always stood by Lebanon in all the crises it is going through," said the outgoing Minister of Public Works, Ali Hamiyeh. "This is our duty."
The Minister of Information added that the High Relief Committee will be responsible for measuring the extent of the damage in Lebanon.
More than 1,500 people were killed in southern Turkey and neighboring Syria by a powerful earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, followed a few hours later by a very strong aftershock measuring 7.5, according to the latest provisional report. Earthquakes were recorded as far away as Greenland, passing through Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon.