BEIRUT — A scarcity of US dollars is causing a crisis for Lebanese citizens. In a Sept. 25 statement, the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners reiterated its commitment to uphold the 48-hour deadline it had given to the concerned parties to find a solution for fuel traders to the dollar shortage. “Any new deadline would be tantamount to a declaration of bankruptcy of all station owners,” the statement warned. 

This comes against the backdrop of a Sept. 24 statement by the governor of the central bank, Riad Salameh, confirming that he would issue a circular next week regulating the financing and importation of wheat, medicine and fuel in dollars. Salameh took his decision after consulting President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and other ministers.

The hydrocarbons sector had threatened to stage a sudden and open strike if the consultations with Hariri and the concerned parties fail to provide the dollar liquidity needed by fuel traders to buy their goods.

Fadi Abu Shakra, the representative of the union for fuel distributors and gas stations in Lebanon, told Al-Monitor that consultations are ongoing to avoid the strike. Yet he also pointed out that “97% of gas stations abided by the one-day strike carried out by the hydrocarbons sector in Lebanon on Sept. 18, with a full abidance by oil importers.”