Lebanon plans to cut subsidies as cash runs out, says finance chief

A worker fills up a motorbike at a petrol station in Beirut on March 18. The government plans to gradually increase prices at fuel stations in the coming months, reducing gasoline subsidies to 85% from 90%.

Lebanon is scaling back food subsidies and will gradually raise gasoline prices to save dwindling foreign reserves, the caretaker finance minister said.The central bank has $16bn left in foreign reserves, of which only $1bn to $1.5bn can be used to fund subsidies, enough for two to three months, Ghazi Wazni said in an interview. Reserves have halved from about $30bn a year ago.“Lebanon can no longer continue with the same pace of subsidies,” Wazni said, without giving a time frame for the changes. “It costs $500mn a month, $6bn a year. That’s why the government made the decision to rationalise subsidies and reduce them on some items.”Wazni’s comments come amid furious protests sparked by a sudden plunge in the Lebanese currency. The pound plummeted below 13,000 per dollar on the black market on Monday, shedding more than 20% in two weeks. Since anti-government protests erupted in October 2019, the currency has lost nearly 90% of its value, pushing millions into poverty. The inflation rate was 84% last year, with food inflation hitting an annual 402% in December.The central bank has stabilised wheat, medicine and fuel prices by providing importers with hard currency at the largely-defunct official rate of 1,507 per dollar. It’s also given a preferential exchange rate to importers of 300 basic food and household products, allowing them to buy dollars at 3,900 pounds each. Other goods are financed in a burgeoning black market at greater cost.The government will remove certain products, including cashew nuts and some branded coffees, from the subsidised list partly because they were smuggled abroad for profit, Wazni said. It also plans to gradually increase prices at fuel stations in the coming months, reducing gasoline subsidies to 85% from 90%.Subsidies on wheat, medicines and fuel for electricity generation remain for now, Wazni said.“The decision has been taken to reduce subsidies on the food basket,” he said. “The decision that needs to be taken in the coming weeks is the gasoline. Last month, during the lockdown, we had the same consumption so we think something’s wrong.”Wazni acknowledged the measures would fuel inflation – forecast at 77% this year, before accounting for reduced subsidies. To help poorer people cope, Lebanon will introduce cash transfers via prepaid cards under a program approved by parliament recently. The government will pay needy families up to 1mn pounds monthly and also secured a $246mn World Bank loan to support 786,000 of the poorest people.Wazni said the government still planned to devalue the currency as part of a transition to a flexible exchange rate, but wouldn’t take that step without an economic reform programme and support from the International Monetary Fund to help restore confidence and anchor the pound.“We’re going to a flexible exchange rate but we need an IMF programme,” he said.Bickering politicians have failed to agree on a new cabinet lineup since the government resigned in August after a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port. The caretaker cabinet cannot negotiate with the IMF, now essential to unlocking other aid.Lebanon defaulted on its $30bn in international debt a year ago. With no reforms or payment plans agreed since, it can’t borrow or attract investors, while the pandemic and banking crisis hit businesses. It was therefore “no surprise” the pound had weakened, according to Wazni.“The situation is: no dollar inflows, less confidence and political impasse, which means uncertainty because you are fearful of the future as the reserves are declining,” he said. “There are financial, economic and political factors that are playing a role and circumstantial factors that led to the fast deterioration in a few days.”