A statement was issued by the Syndicate of Traders and Importers of Spirits, headed by Michel Abi Ramia, which stated: "Firstly - On the Justness of Employees' Demands: With the continued economic crisis and its exacerbation affecting all citizens, while the private sector is more flexible in bridging the gap between low income and the sharply rising cost of living, our companies have done everything possible to support employees and ensure their continuity to overcome the crisis. However, the public sector suffers from a lack of a viable solution regarding salaries and wages, tightening the noose on employees in public administrations and their daily lives and those of their families. Therefore, the syndicate supports the employees' demands to secure a decent living at a minimum level through salary increases and benefits, at least by providing periodic social assistance or subsidized cards to cover transportation costs.
Secondly: On the exorbitant costs resulting from delays in processing transactions: Importing companies bear exorbitant fees and expenses due to paying cargo costs to foreign companies in hard currency, as well as port fees which have also been required to be paid in hard currency since June 1, 2022. This leads to two bitter outcomes: either incurring massive losses for companies due to the inability to raise prices in line with accelerating inflation, or passing these costs onto consumers. The open-ended strike initiated about ten days ago by public administration employees has left goods and containers piled up at the port without the ability to process the required visas from many ministries, including the Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of Public Health, nor to conduct inspections or analyses of goods. Although this delay is beyond the control of the importing companies, the official administration and shipping companies are unwilling to bear any amount of losses or to reduce any of the fees that are being borne by the consumer or companies as losses in their accounts.
Thirdly: On the necessity to find a mechanism to expedite import transactions: The Syndicate of Traders and Importers of Spirits requests that the Ministry of National Economy, the Port Authority, and Lebanese Customs exempt import transactions of spirits from any restrictions and develop a mechanism to complete these transactions to release containers and goods into the local market, thus preventing waste of money and commercial losses, and to ensure the availability of goods in Lebanese markets during a promising tourism season that cannot start with shortages of essential goods required to serve active tourism.
Based on this, as the Syndicate of Traders and Importers of Spirits, while standing alongside the just demands of public administration employees, we raise our voice demanding solutions to the import problem that places our companies on the verge of commercial losses at a time when we are trying to support our employees to continue resisting this difficult situation, while also attempting to alleviate the burdens on the consumer amidst the outrageous increase in commodity prices, hoping to set up a mechanism for processing transactions as soon as possible and to exempt companies from unjust fees arising from matters beyond the companies' management and for which importers are not responsible, especially since all these fees are paid in cash US dollars."
