Plunging Lebanese pound sparks bread crisis

MENA

Published: 2020-06-28 16:02

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 00:54


Plunging Lebanese pound sparks bread crisis
Plunging Lebanese pound sparks bread crisis

Queues of people stood outside bakeries in Lebanon on Saturday amid warnings of a possible bread shortage as the country’s collapsing currency reflected directly on food prices.

The U.S. dollar to Lebanese pound exchange rate has slumped to a new low of 8,000 on the back market, a loss of around 80% of the pound’s value.

Although Lebanon's bakery owners sell bread in Lebanese pounds, they pay dollars to millers which import wheat and flour from overseas.

The mills have stopped supplying flour to bakeries for fear of a further reduction in the pound’s value which would mean the millers suffer losses, bakery owner Mohammad Mansour told Xinhua.

“We cannot continue in light of the high dollar exchange rate ... The dollar is equivalent to LL8,000, and we cannot continue this way,” Ali Ibrahim, head of the Union of Bakeries Syndicates told local media.