The queues waiting for bags of bread in front of bakeries under the scorching sun remind one of last summer's scenes in front of fuel stations, alongside a noticeable activity in the black market, which only resolved when gasoline prices were deregulated. For instance, the price of 95 octane gasoline rose from 43,500 LBP to 670,000 LBP (this morning), an increase of 1488%, or 16 times (according to the International Information Center). Therefore, the question is: Will the price of bread be deregulated to reach unimaginable levels similar to fuel prices?
Economic expert Professor Jassem Ajaka explained through "Akhbar Al-Yawm" agency that subsidizing any commodity leads to the creation of a black market for it or to smuggling, as there is no enforcement or respect for laws in Lebanon. He stated that bread is not sold from the shelves in some bakeries but from their back doors, to later be transferred to the black market. He also revealed that flour is still being smuggled to Syria.
Regretting that there is no sovereignty of laws in Lebanon, Ajaka said: "If the laws were enforced, hoarders and smugglers would be 'thrown' in prisons." Are we on the verge of deregulating the price of bread? Ajaka answered: "A decision may be made to deregulate the price of flour completely, the queues we witness today might end, but bread would become like any commodity whose price rises with every increase in the exchange rate of the dollar."
He added: "However, in all countries of the world, the price of bread remains stable and fixed, and thus Lebanon would be the only country where the price of bread fluctuates up and down and is sold in the black market." Ajaka also criticized the performance of former Minister of Economy Raoul Nehme, stating that the latter committed a crime when he broke the stability of bread prices.
He pointed out that in countries around the world, changing the price of bread is subject to strict conditions, and any unstudied step at this level could lead to the collapse of governments, emphasizing that dollarizing the price of bread would make a large segment of the Lebanese population unable to purchase it, marking the first step toward famine. He noted that half of the daily caloric intake of individuals in Arab societies, including Lebanon, comes from bread.
