A hydrocarbons filling center with amchit (Jbeil).Photo P.H.B.
BEIRUT — Lebanon's pharmaceutical importers sounded the alarm on Wednesday, warning that a new tax outlined in the 2024 Budget Law would significantly increase their financial burdens. This move, they caution, could severely impact the entire pharmaceutical sector and consequently pose a "threat to the citizens' health."
This concern comes at a time when the Lebanese Petroleum Importing Companies Association (APIC) has declared a strike in objection to the same tax, which targets companies that benefitted from Lebanon Central Bank (BDL) subsidies during the national economic and financial crisis that started in 2019.
Similarly, the Food Product Importers' Union has voiced its disapproval of the tax, labeling it "unjust" and broad-reaching, affecting "everyone," including "companies that had transparently complied" with the established system for receiving and managing subsidy mechanisms. This sentiment is echoed by economic bodies that have also criticized the "improvisation and populism" that they argue have characterized Lebanese officials' decisions in the past.
In response to the growing outcry, outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with BDL's interim governor, Wassim Manssouri, at the Grand Serail on Wednesday. Additionally, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of the Finance and Budget Committee, which submitted the budget draft to Parliament, emphasized the need to "address the country's ills," which the budget alone cannot solve. He pointed to the importance of conducting "an audit of banking assets and restructuring the banking and public sectors."
As Lebanon faces these challenges, the proposed tax in the 2024 Budget Law stands to further inflame brewing tensions between various economic sectors, and potentially put the overall health of its citizens at risk.