View from the cockpit of one of the giant cranes at the Port of Beirut. (Credit: PHB)
It had to be leaked to the media to be noticed before it was implemented.
Following a joint decision by caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil and Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh, the exchange rate used to calculate customs duties — or the so-called “customs dollar” — on imports was raised to LL45,000 to the US dollar.
At three times the LL15,000 rate applied since Dec. 1 and almost equivalent to the exchange rate offered on BDL’s Sayrafa platform, this new rate is applicable from Wednesday. News of this revised rate has taken most Lebanese by surprise, even within the Finance Ministry, which L’Orient-Le Jour contacted to confirm the information.
“This is totally unexpected and it’s very bad news. We feel that the [traders] have been left out of the loop by this decision adopted even though the state budget for 2023 has not gone beyond the stage of the draft,” said Nicolas Chammas, president of the Beirut Traders Association. According to him, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati supports this measure, the primary objective of which is to finance public sector salaries. The latter were tripled with the entry into force of the 2022 budget on Nov. 15, but have been greatly depreciated by additional falls in the lira’s value since — the national currency was trading at about LL40,000 to the dollar on the parallel market in November, while this week it is trading as low as LL88,000 to the greenback.
“The impact will be considerable on household purchasing power, consumption and growth, while knowing that the borders are open to the four winds and smuggling is in full swing,” Chammas added.
The president of the union of food importers, Hani Bohsali, was equally surprised.
“We were today with the Minister of Economy and Trade, Amin Salam, and he did not seem to know the information," Bohsali said. “For now we do not know how the market will react to this measure. We will know more on Wednesday,” he added.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
