On Saturday, crowds were seen lined up outside of bakeries in various locations as fears grow that bread will become scarce in Lebanon due to the high exchange rate of the dollar.
According to Lebanon 24, some shops and supermarkets are selling a pack of 900 grams of bread at around 2,000 – 2,500 L.L.
The 1 kg pack of bread was initially at 1,000 L.L. until it was recently reduced to 900gr the pack at 1,000 L.L.
“Citizens rushed to buy bread after Chamsine Bakery announced that bread will not be delivered to shops and supermarkets tomorrow, and only selling bread in ovens,” reported the same news agency on Friday evening.
According to Lebanon 24, the head of the Union of Bakeries Syndicate stated that bakeries will continue to not distribute bread to grocery shops “until a solution is found.”
Back in April, the syndicate announced that it will stop distributing bread to shops, and sell it solely in bakeries, but quickly suspended the decision and returned to selling bread as usual.
Although the government subsidizes flour, it does not take into account the rising cost of production. Moreover, there is a government proposal to cancel its subsidy for commodities and replace the program with coupons.
In addition, smuggling of basic goods, such as cooking oil, potatoes, and flour from Lebanon into Syria, continues in an unsettling regularity as seen in this video, adding to dozens of trucks carrying fuel that were just caught on camera heading to Syria.
Considering that these operations are being conducted in the open, at any time of the day and night, in front of the people and the authorities, the term smuggling, which indicates secret illegal operations, might be no longer accurate here.
As the government seemingly continues to turn a blind eye towards it, Lebanon continues to sink deeper and deeper into its crisis, and the citizens into their sufferings.
As a solution to the bread crisis, Minister Abdel-Samad is now asking the people to vote on the suggestion to adopt “potato wheat.”