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Supermarkets will be able to display prices in US dollars, economy minister announces

Supermarkets will be able to display prices in US dollars, economy minister announces

People shopping in a supermarket in Lebanon. (Credit: AFP/File)

Supermarkets will be permitted to display their goods' prices in US dollars by adopting the dollar-to-lira rate in force on the parallel market, caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam announced on Thursday during a press conference.

"The objective is not dollarization, but the protection of consumers," Salam said. Lebanon's national currency, pummelled by years of economic crisis, has been experiencing a renewed free fall for several weeks against the greenback, exceeding LL80,000 to $1 on the parallel market on Thursday.

The president of the union of supermarket owners, Nabil Fahed, confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour on Thursday that supermarket owners have requested that the caretaker economy minister give them a week, "until next Wednesday," to implement this new pricing mechanism.

Under the new model, food prices will be displayed in US dollars but "payment will remain in Lebanese lira," Fahed stressed. "A dollar-to-lira rate will be displayed at supermarkets' entrances, checkouts and on invoices," Fahed added, noting that the sector is moving toward selecting the Lira Aggregator application as a reference for this rate.

Fahed also confirmed that the rate could undergo changes several times a day, but that "if [the changes] remain below 2 or 3 percent, the price changes will then be done the next day only."

The Economy Ministry and the supermarket sector have been discussing this change in the pricing mechanism for several weeks. 

At the beginning of February, a first implementation of this new mechanism was aborted when the General Confederation of Workers in Lebanon opposed it, calling the decision "hasty" and "ill-considered," before calling on the authorities to review it. 

Supermarkets will be permitted to display their goods' prices in US dollars by adopting the dollar-to-lira rate in force on the parallel market, caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam announced on Thursday during a press conference."The objective is not dollarization, but the protection of consumers," Salam said. Lebanon's national currency, pummelled by years of economic crisis, has been...