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by Dana Halawi
FILE PHOTO: Electricity cables are seen in Tyre, Lebanon July 18, 2020. Picture taken July 18, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
BEIRUT – Lebanese experts and officials urge for immediate reform of the country’s electricity sector which costs the state’s treasury around 1.5 – 2 billion U.S. dollars annually while failing to secure sufficient power generation.
“The energy ministry must work immediately to reduce its expenses, increase revenues, and explore other methods for power generation including solar energy, so as to solve the chronic crisis of electricity in Lebanon,” Patrick Mardini, president of Lebanese Institute for Market Studies, told Xinhua.
Mardini’s remarks came days after Lebanese Caretaker Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar warned the country would plunge into total darkness at the end of the month if no money was secured to buy fuel for power stations.
Executive Magazine
Photo Credit: Greg Demarque
The Lebanese are currently subjected to depreciation, with
the ever-rising prices of goods and services, self-imposed limits on
withdrawals by banks at a rate of LBP 3,900 to the dollar, and a local currency
estimated at LBP 9,600
to the dollar as at March 1st 2021. Rampant inflation was
estimated at 84.8 percent for the full year 2020 according to the Central
Statistics Department, with end-of-year inflation from December 2019 to
December 2020 estimated at 14.8 percent. Additionally, any release of controls
for withdrawals in LBP would result in added inflation due to an expansion of
the monetary mass and a rush to buy USD currency at black market rates. The