A protester burns a tire outside the Beirut port during a protest by Lebanese car dealers, May 30, 2023. (Credit: Nabil Ismail/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Dozens of second-hand vehicle car dealers, taxi drivers and others blocked the Charles Helou highway in front of Beirut’s port Tuesday protesting the government’s decision to raise the "customs dollar" exchange rate to LL86,000.
The "customs dollar" is the exchange rate used to calculate customs duties on imported products.
The rate was hiked from LL60,000 to LL86,000 in mid-May, converging with the central bank’s Sayrafa exchange rate. This was the fourth such increase to the rate, which first rose tenfold to LL15,000 last December to match the country's new official exchange rate.
As protesters burnt tires, army personnel were deployed to the scene and some scuffles broke out, a L'Orient Today reporter witnessed.
Tension between army personnel and protesters on May 30, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
Elie Azzi, head of the car importers' syndicate, told Annahar in a live video that “the government asks us to pay 65% of the price of the car that arrives at the Beirut port in customs. This is simply theft.”
Addressing the crowd, a car dealer said that they "have been repeatedly been promised that [they] will be treated fairly and [their] demands will be heard, but all those are empty promises."
Tuesday's protest was the third one this year calling for an adjustment to the customs rate, which importers say is hurting their business.
Meanwhile, the country's annual inflation rate has been in triple digits for three years now.
Protesters held up signs stating “they’ve [the authorities] have wrecked our homes,” and “save the car dealership businesses or we’ll have to go back to [transporting with] donkeys.”
The customs dollar was imposed by the Finance Ministry in the 2022 budget on Nov. 15. It aims to offset some of the effects of the lira's depreciation on state tax revenues.
Reporting contributed by Mohammad Yassin.