Lebanon's customs dollars threatens car import sector: report

The decision to raise the "customs dollar" on imported cars from abroad had a profound impact that led to an increase in their prices after adjusting it from 1,500 LBP to 45,000 LBP in just two months.  

According to an article published by Independent Arabia, the crisis developed with a significant rise in fuel prices, which led many Lebanese to abandon large cars and replace them with smaller and more economical ones.  

This will lead to a decline in the profits for gas stations and, thus, the closure of several of them.  

Walid Francis, head of the Syndicate of Car Showroom Owners, revealed to the newspaper that shipping of cars from abroad will stop due to the prevailing "customs chaos" in the country, which will lead to the loss of the state treasury basic income.  

Explaining that the calculations reveal that as a result of the customs dollar, which is set at 45,000 LBP, the car showrooms’ sales will decline by 90 percent, after they had previously declined by 50 percent after raising the customs dollar to 15,000 pounds per dollar and indicated that once Lebanon used to import 50,000 per year.   

The Lebanese government has previously decided to triple the customs dollar, which ultimately led to causing a significant increase in the prices of imported goods subject to customs fees. The decision was taken due to the government's lack of funds, which became severely depleted.