Hezb members summoned after Kahaleh, Ogero prices to rise sevenfold, fuel shipments await entry: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

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The military court yesterday summoned four Hezbollah members allegedly present during armed clashes in Kahaleh earlier this month which killed one party member and an area resident, a Hezbollah spokesperson told L’Orient Today. The shootout ensued after a crowd formed in Kahaleh around an overturned Hezbollah truck that the party later said was carrying munitions. On Friday, the military court summoned four Kahaleh residents also allegedly involved in the clashes, to the dismay of area inhabitants and officials who called for the investigation to start with the “the armed group which opened fire with their automatic weapons to try to intimidate them.” A senior Lebanese Army source denied the existence of “an agreement” with Hezbollah to return the contents of the truck, as claimed by the party spokesperson.

State telecom operator Ogero announced that it will raise prices sevenfold starting Sept. 1. Internet subscription prices were updated on Ogero’s website, however it did not display changes to fixed call costs. The 80 and 100 GB internet bundles, which caretaker Telecom Minister Johnny Corm claimed are used by 60 percent of Ogero’s 280,000 subscribers, rose from LL60,000 and LL90,000 to LL420,00 and LL630,000. Earlier this month, the cabinet approved the tariff increase, which Corm told L'Orient Today was essential to enable Ogero to cover all of its operating costs, excluding salaries. Despite the sevenfold increase, Corm last month said the hiked tariffs “will be 25 to 27 percent lower” than pre-crisis prices, in dollar terms.

Healthcare costs led to price increases in July, according to inflation figures published yesterday by the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) which showed a 6.8 percent monthly increase to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI’s monthly increase remained moderate compared to earlier months, continuing a slowdown in price increases which began dropping after the CPI had risen by 33.27 in March. Nonetheless, July marks the 17th consecutive month of lira price rises. The cost of healthcare increased by 44.4 percent between June and July while most prices remained relatively stable, except for a 5.5 percent rise in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices and a 7.9 percent uptick in the costs of housing water, electricity, gas and other fuels. Year-on-year inflation figures remained in the triple-digits, with a 251.5 percent yearly increase to the CPI from last July.

The Energy Ministry said in a statement that two fuel shipments are awaiting the completion of quality assurance tests to be unloaded while a third is pending the release of funds from Banque du Liban, the state-run National News Agency reported. The statement said that quality assurance procedures were underway to unload the contents of two gas oil shipments from the Iraqi fuel deal that arrived Friday, Kallos and Ariadne, destined for the Zahrani and Deir Ammar power plants, respectively. A third shipment, Ardmore, is estimated to cost $30 million which, according to the statement, were previously approved by the government and the finance ministry. Following a meeting yesterday by the ministerial committee on electricity, the NNA reported that the government had asked EDL to provide details on its current fund and fuel reserves pending the next meeting. The Energy Ministry’s statement claimed that state electricity provider Electricité du Liban still had $107 million of the $300 million in working capital granted by the government in January after a fuel shortage forced Lebanon’s two largest power plants to shut down for several days.

Caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan announced that 30,000 people had signed up for the “Farmers’ Registry” launched in March in cooperation with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the state-run National News Agency reported. Hajj Hassan emphasized the need for farmers to register in the database to benefit from the ministry’s services. The FAO details the registry’s goal as “expanding social protection coverage to farmers as well as for providing them access to agricultural services.” During the program’s launch in March, Hajj Hassan said that the registry will provide details on “cultivated areas, and the quality of the crops” allowing the ministry to “match needs with capabilities.” The caretaker minister also said he expects bread wheat plantations to reach 100,000 dunums [1000 square meters], adding that related grants had reached 1,322 farmers and that the price for a ton of wheat was set at $270. Hajj Hassan additionally announced that applications for grants funded by Denmark and operated by the FAO will remain open until Sep. 25.

In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: 'The total impunity of Damascus is not limited to its chemical weapons use’

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz