Beirut- With a broad smile and a question about expectations and the possibility of expanding the war between Israel and Hezbollah, we are welcomed by the Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade, Amin Salam.
We arrived at his office laden with dozens of questions from Lebanese people who fear for their future, food security, and the state’s strategic stockpile in light of the war, and about how to confront the monopolists among the crisis merchants who may store goods in preparation for raising their prices if the security situation deteriorates.
Salam, an international lawyer and economist specializing in management, says that the government has been suffering for three years to confront the rise in food prices and crisis merchants or crisis gangs who exploit people’s needs during the collapses that have struck the country and followed it in a frightening manner, from the economic collapse in 2019 and the Beirut port explosion a year later, then the collapse of the currency and the loss of 95% of its value and the loss of deposits.
He added that the current war is putting the government before a serious test, which is achieving food security and the arrival of food supplies and raw materials to Lebanon, which imports more than 90% of its needs, and its production covers only 10% of its needs.
Food security
“The Ministry of Economy has been operating in a state of emergency for three years, so we are reassuring people about food security. We are in a constant state of conflict with crisis merchants and those exploiting citizens. There is a section of the private sector that has protected the country from complete collapse, and another section – a large percentage – of merchants who exploit people’s fear and anxiety about the future and the loss of food commodities and food supplies in the event that war breaks out,” he added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net.
The minister, who comes from a Beirut political family, pointed out that there have been intensive meetings for a week with various unions concerned with food security and the strategic stock of goods and raw materials.
He said, “All the different unions reassured me that food commodities and raw materials are sufficient for the next 3 months, and there are shipments coming to the port of Beirut that will arrive in the coming weeks as well, sufficient for an additional two months, meaning that we have food and consumer goods sufficient for the country’s consumption for the next 5 months.”
He explained that the Ministry of Economy worked with unions and merchants to distribute these materials to points of sale in various Lebanese regions equally, “taking into consideration the areas to which families fled to escape the war, and we demanded doubling the quantities for them.”
Government credibility
Salam acknowledges that “all these assurances from him and his fellow ministers are not believed by the people, and this has been the case for years and is not a recent development or due to the atmosphere of war; the people have lost confidence in the officials, not only the current ones, but also the previous ones, as we have inherited decades of corruption and mismanagement.”
He continued: “I do not blame people if they store goods and do not listen to reassurances, because the Lebanese state has succeeded for decades in losing the trust of its people, but from a humanitarian and national standpoint and out of mercy for the poor who live from day to day and do not have the sustenance for tomorrow, those who are able should not rush to store goods for a long period, and there is nothing wrong with storing necessary goods for an additional month at most.”
He pointed out that the rush “will inevitably raise prices, because it pushes traders to store them as well, and then sell them later at many times the price.”
“serious dilemma”
The minister spoke about a “serious dilemma” facing the work of his ministry and the unions concerned with food security, which is “smuggling and the entry of large quantities of food and goods through illegal crossings.”
“The size of the parallel market is huge and constitutes more than 50% of the market, and the fear is that black market traders will store goods in the event that war breaks out or the situation deteriorates further and a naval and air blockade is imposed, and then sell them later at high prices,” Sallam said.
He added: “I will propose in the first session of the Council of Ministers expanding the security cell that we formed two years ago to control the monopoly and storage of wheat to raise bread prices, to include all food and consumer goods. The ministry’s oversight agencies have been activated, most notably the Consumer Protection Authority, which works around the clock to control violations, but its capabilities are insufficient compared to the size of the parallel market where the biggest violations are committed. This requires greater security support and legal action against them.”
He added, “The Ministry of Economy is not a judicial police and cannot close a violating store or supermarket without permission from the judiciary. That is why we demanded amending the laws and granting the ministry’s inspectors this authority. Our work does not require a large number of devices if the penalties on violating merchants are tightened and they are thrown into prison.”
Lebanon faces
Salam said that there is a part of the Lebanese people who have adapted to the collapse of the economic situation and the currency, but he saw that this is unhealthy, because a large part of the Lebanese people live from day to day or receive a small salary after the collapse of the currency, until Lebanon has become two faces:
- Wide slices Struggling to live with dignity, she has been devastatingly affected by the successive crises that have swept the country.
- very narrow slice She lives in luxury, having succeeded in exploiting crises and accumulating wealth, which Sallam believes has caused the absence of social justice.
He stresses that “despite the passage of about 5 years since the economic crisis, we have not seen any move to return people’s deposits or a monetary policy that restores foreign confidence in the banking system and the country’s economy. On the contrary, the gap is widening and the monetary economy is dominant, all of this with all the negatives that result from it.”
systematic beating
He concluded by saying, “There is a systematic attack on the Lebanese economy, through the destruction of the agricultural sector and the burning of Lebanese soil. Agriculture used to provide part of the country’s foreign currency through exports, but it lost about 4 billion dollars. There are threats and internal and external media hype to attack the only airport in the country (Rafic Hariri Airport), and this has struck tourism and pushed expatriates and tourists to leave Lebanon, and reservations have been cancelled.”
Amin Salam summed up the scene by saying, “Lebanon has been in a state of emergency for 3 years, and I demanded that this issue be declared openly and publicly, especially with regard to food security and energy security. This is not an exaggeration, but rather a reality that the Lebanese are living. A few months ago, we were only in a state of emergency due to the economic crisis and successive collapses, but today we are in a state of emergency and a state of war. If we do not all cooperate to stop the collapse, we will enter a dark tunnel that will require many years of recovery and exit from it.”
