“The wheat stock in Lebanon is enough for a month and a half”…Is there a crisis nearby?!

The Director General of Cereals and Sugar Beets at the Ministry of Economy, Grace Barbari, confirmed that “previous proposals regarding legalizing flour distribution and restricting it to bread ovens, we rejected them to prevent the closure of establishments that provide pastries and manakish, and we informed the mills of the need to resume delivering flour to everyone on a regular basis,” noting that “the Ministry of Economy I thought of alternatives and started implementing them, which consist in buying wheat from international markets to replace the local stock that is decreasing due to consumption.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in an article by journalist Nazir Rida, Barbari said: “We are working to import wheat as soon as possible, to prevent a decrease in the stock that is sufficient for only a month and a half,” noting that “the Ministry of Economy has completed procedures to import a shipment of wheat located in Egypt and referred the request to the Banque du Liban to pay for the shipment,” noting that “if all payment procedures are implemented, the ship will be at the end of the week in Beirut.”

And he added, “We have no interest in delaying, because prices are rising globally, and demand for wheat has increased globally, and we must speed up procedures because the situation cannot tolerate any delay in order to prevent a food crisis from emerging.”

He pointed out that “Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil, Minister of Economy and Trade Amin Salam and the Governmental Emergency Committee are doing everything necessary to expedite the procedures at the Banque du Liban to prevent the emergence of any crisis.”