In Lebanon, customs duties inflate prices making cars only for the rich

The Lebanese did not feel much of the repercussions of the decline in the exchange rate of the US dollar on the black market or the preservation of its rate for weeks, as prices remained high. 

This article was originally published in and translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan.   

Instead, according to Nidaa al-Watan, many shoppers noticed that food prices were affected by some increase in US dollars under the pretext of raising the value of customs duties, for which many questions were raised about the reality of this disparity and the role of supervision in it.

The price rise in US dollars will not be limited to food and cleaning materials but is expected to reach cars and cause the "death" of this sector. 

Nowadays, dozens of showrooms are devoid of customers, an indication of a state of stagnation in sales, so what is the case if customs duties were raised according to what is scheduled on May 15th to become based on the Sayrafa rate after it was calculated on the official US dollar rate of 15,000 Lebanese lira. 

According to Nidaa al-Watan, one of the showrooms owners says without hiding that "Raising customs duties to simulate the Sayrafa rate practically means dealing a fatal blow to exhibition owners, for this sector that collapsed with the onset of the economic crisis in 2019, then it began to gradually recover." 

"If the decision is implemented, cars will become the monopoly of the rich, but only the rich," expecting the price of the smallest small car to rise to about 3,000 US dollars. 

The "obsession" with raising customs duties applies to mobile money changers on the Banks Street, Riad Elsolh, as they accompanied with great interest the protest movement organized by the depositors' associations in Beirut, to demand the return of their money from the banks. 

One of them said: "Eyes are on the banks because if they are closed, then the US dollar will "fly" and will never "calm down." We work anxiously and wary of a big and quick surprise."