Prime Minister Najib Mikati chaired a meeting today at the Grand Serail that included Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fiad, Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil, Director General of the Ministry of Finance Georges Maalouf, and former minister and advisor to the Prime Minister, Nicolas Nahas.
After the meeting, Fiad stated: "The meeting was dedicated to discussing the payment of dues to institutions and public administrations for the benefit of Electricité du Liban. As is known, there was a treasury advance of 6,800 billion Lira, and only 1,000 billion has been paid so far. We are working on formulating a solution for the remaining amount to be paid as soon as possible. At the request of Prime Minister Mikati, notifications will be sent directly from Electricité du Liban to the Ministry of Finance, so that all notifications can be gathered in one place and the amount can be paid at once before the end of the year, amounting to approximately 60 million dollars, which will enter Electricité du Liban's account. This will enable the company to pay part of its dues to Iraq, which is the portion agreed upon in the last cabinet session that the company must settle. There are one and a half million tons, and the electricity company is ready to pay for half a million tons in Lebanese Lira, which will go into Iraq's account at the Central Bank."
He clarified that "these dues have accumulated on institutions and public administrations since November 2022 until the end of June 2023, with remaining dues from July 1, 2023, until the end of July 2024. We will ask Electricité du Liban to expedite issuing notifications to institutions and public administrations, especially the large consumers, who represent more than 80 percent of electricity bills and consumption, and to send them quickly and request their implementation by these institutions and administrations, especially since there is 100 million dollars available in the budgets of these institutions to pay their electricity bills, which secures 100 million dollars for electricity to be paid into Iraq's account."
Fiad added: "There are 50 million dollars and 100 million dollars, totaling about 150 million dollars, which will enter the account of the electricity company and thus into Iraq's account. This will have a positive impact by facilitating Iraqi-Lebanese exchange to avoid any complications on this matter."
