Finance Minister Releases Funds to Buy Fuel Oil to Maintain Electric Power
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil signed on Saturday letters of credit to Electricite du Liban in order to purchase fuel oil needed to preserve the electricity supply in Lebanon, reported LBCI television.
EDL officials had warned earlier this week that the government's failure to legitimize the release of funds by the finance ministry to buy the fuel would have detrimental effects on electricity.
Khalil took his step after an extraordinary decision by the government.
Failure to approve the funds would have caused in the depletion of the oil stored at the state-run EDL.
The release of the funds should avert the company from resorting to severe rationing and a complete power outage, media reports had said.
Khalil said Wednesday that his ministry will not issue letters of credit to EDL without the approval of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's government which hasn't yet received parliament's vote of confidence.
The government policy statement draft was approved on Friday and it will be discussed at parliament next week ahead of the vote of confidence.
Chronic power shortages since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war have been a main source of grievance among Lebanese who live outside Beirut and have had to put up with hours of daily cuts.
But the capital suffers only three hours of power cuts per day.
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