Lebanon’s parliament on Tuesday ratified a long-awaited $150 million World Bank loan to finance wheat imports, during the first legislative parliamentary session since the May 15 parliamentary elections.
The loan is to finance wheat imports for the next six to nine months, according to caretaker economy minister Amin Salam.
Lebanon has suffered from chronic shortages of wheat and flour since its economic crisis began in 2019, with the subsidised Arabic bread consumed in most Lebanese households becoming scarce.
About 22 per cent of Lebanese households are food insecure, according to the World Food Programme, with bread shortages further threatening food security in the struggling nation. Soaring inflation, paired with a plunge in the value of the local currency by 90 per cent, has badly affected the purchasing power of Lebanon's citizens.
Mr Salam refuted rumours that subsidies on Arabic bread would be lifted.
“Arabic bread will remain subsidised,” he told The National. “There will be some very insignificant increases that take place as part of rationalising the subsidy, but that will not really affect prices in a major way.”
Long early-morning queues often form in front of bakeries and grocery stores as customers race to purchase limited quantities of subsidised bread.
As of 2pm on Tuesday, there was no Arabic bread left at the popular Wooden Bakery branch in Khalde, an employee told The National.
“There are lines every day,” she said. “And the bread is long gone by early afternoon.”
Photos of hundreds of people standing in line outside a bakery in Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre made the rounds on social media on Tuesday, while parliament debated the details of the World Bank loan.
The limited availability of bread has caused tensions to frequently boil over in queues. Two people were wounded in Tripoli in mid-July after a gunfight over who was ahead in a bread queue.
Analysts point to several reasons for the wheat shortages plaguing the country. First and foremost is the financial crisis, which has depleted the nation’s treasury. A plunge in the local currency unpegged it from the dollar, limiting the ability of the cash-strapped state to subsidise wheat imports, which are paid to importers in dollars.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has also been detrimental, with the war there hindering the country’s ability to export wheat. About 80 per cent of Lebanon’s wheat came from Ukraine prior to the invasion.
But Ukraine is set to resume wheat imports to Lebanon.
“Ukraine will allocate a specific line of shipment for Lebanon so we can get all the wheat we need on a weekly basis,” Mr Salam said.
Lebanon needs 36,000 tonnes of wheat a month.
Also, the Beirut port explosion in August 2020 destroyed the country’s grain silos and with it most of Lebanon’s wheat reserves.
Meanwhile, politicians, including Mr Salam, have blamed shortages on black market trade.
In early July, Mr Salam said at a press conference that “some bakeries and some merchants personally benefit from the subsidised wheat,” by selling bread on the black market at inflated prices.
He announced last week the formation of a security committee which would be responsible for cracking down on black market trade and ensuring the distribution of wheat and flour to bakeries and mills.
“Security agencies will monitor and chase quantities of wheat from the minute it arrives in the port,” he said.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
McIlroy's recent struggles
Last six stroke-play events (First round score in brackets)
Arnold Palmer Invitational Tied for 4th (74)
The US Masters Tied for 7th (72)
The Players Championship Tied for 35th (73)
US Open Missed the cut (78)
Travellers Championship Tied for 17th (67)
Irish Open Missed the cut (72)
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RESULTS
6.30pm: Meydan Sprint Group 2 US$175,000 1,000m
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Winner: Secret Ambition, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.40pm: Handicap $160,000 1,400m
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8.15pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes Group 3 $200,000 2,000m
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Winner: Janoobi, Jim Crowley, Mike de Kock
9.25pm: Handicap $125,000 1,600m
Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
