BEIRUT — In bankrupt
Lebanon, Khalil Mansour
has to queue for hours every day just to buy bread for his family and some days
he cannot afford any.
اضافة اعلان
In a country which once boasted the nickname
“
Switzerland of the Middle East” for its thriving banking sector before
financial crisis hit in 2019, the chronic shortage of the staple of the
Lebanese diet has been hard to take.
Lebanon defaulted on its national debt in 2020 and
its currency has lost around 90 percent of its black market value.
The
World Bank has branded the financial crisis one
of the worst since the 19th century while the UN now considers four out five
Lebanese to be living under the poverty line.
Faced with demands from international creditors for
painful reforms in return for the release of new aid, the embattled government
has been forced to end subsidies on most essential goods — although not so far
on wheat.
The price of subsidized bread has gone up, although
by less than if there were no subsidy, but bakeries have started rationing the
staple.
A bag of Arabic flatbread now officially sells for
13,000 Lebanese pounds (43 US cents). On the black market it costs more than
30,000.
“Last week I went without bread for three days
because I cannot afford to pay 30,000,” said Mansour, 48.
For Mansour and most Lebanese, buying bread means
standing for hours in long queues outside bakeries and sometimes, when their
turn comes, the bakeries have run out of bread.
“Today I queued for three hours, yesterday
two-and-a-half. What next?” Mansour said on Friday outside a Beirut bakery.
“I have to feed my family. What else can I do?”
asked Mansour, who earns the equivalent of $50 a month working in a pastry
shop.
‘Wild West’
Most bakeries limit the sale
of bread to one or two bags per customer, and each bag contains six flatbreads.
Subsidized bread is often bought in large quantities
and sold again on the black market by unscrupulous dealers.
“The queues have become worse over the past two
weeks,” said bakery owner Mohammed Mehdi. “We are facing huge shortages.”
The 49-year-old said the bakery business had become
like the “Wild West”. “Some customers come armed with guns and knives,” he
complained.
Lebanese media carry frequent reports of fights
breaking out at bakeries, and even shots fired by customers demanding more
bread.
In Taalbaya, in eastern Lebanon, a customer stormed
a bakery on Tuesday furious he could not buy more bread, one report said.
‘Incitement’
Lebanon imports 80 percent
of its wheat from war-torn
Ukraine, according to industry figures.
But the country’s capacity to store wheat took a
heavy blow when a deadly blast at Beirut port in August 2020 severely damaged
the country’s main grain silos.
The government and bakeries have traded blame for
the bread shortage.
Bakeries accuse cash-strapped authorities of failing
to provide enough subsidized flour.
The economy ministry denies the claim and has
accused bakeries of hoarding subsidized flour to use in unsubsidized products
such as sweets.
Authorities also claim that the presence in Lebanon
of more than one million refugees from war-torn Syria is partly to blame for
Lebanon’s economic collapse.
Some Lebanese have even gone as far as accusing
Syrian refugees of buying subsidized bread to sell on the black market,
fuelling resentment against the refugees and demands for them to go home.
There have been reports of some bakeries imposing
separate queues for Lebanese and Syrians.
This has prompted the
UN refugee agency to voice its
concern.
“Lebanon is witnessing an increase in tensions and
incitement between different communities, leading to localized violence in the
streets, including against refugees,” the UNHCR warned on Friday.
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