Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Tuesday said “the crazy rise in the prices of foodstuffs and commodities must be among the priorities” of the government.
He was speaking during a Cabinet session at the presidential palace in Baabda.
“Some merchants are greedy and they should not remain without accountability,” the PM added.
They are “taking advantage of the situation to achieve hefty profits at the expense of the livelihood of the Lebanese and there should be strict measures against them,” he went on to say.
Lebanon is in the thick of its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war, compounded by the coronavirus epidemic. The prices of basic goods have greatly increased, in some cases by over 60%. The Lebanese pound, pegged to the dollar for 30 years, has lost nearly 60% of its value over the past few months.
Forty-five percent of Lebanon’s population now lives below the poverty line, and tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs or seen salaries slashed because of the downturn.