The head of the Syndicate of Lebanese Press Editors, Joseph Al-Qasifi, denounced the Council of Ministers’ recent decision to increase the price of a can of gasoline by 361,000 Lebanese pounds, in addition to raising the TVA fee by 1%, describing this as the government “transforming the Lebanese state day after day from a patronage state into a collection state.”
In his statement, Al-Qasifi said, “The government is deliberately taking improvised decisions that lack justice and fairness among citizens, which would lead to the division between their groups, while they are equally neglected at all levels,” stressing that the government’s action “was like exchanging eyeliner for blindness.”
He warned that the increase in the price of gasoline “will cause chaos in the market and a crazy and random rise in commodity prices,” considering that the country “will be like someone licking a radiator.”
He added: “By doing this, the government is trying to escape from a problem and solve it by creating new and recurring problems,” pointing to its inability to provide alternative solutions that “consolidate the foundations of social balance.” He continued, saying: “When she is asked about people’s deposits, she has no answer except that they are sacred, while no one knows anything about their fate, and when you ask her about sea and river properties, there is no convincing response.”
Al-Qusaifi explained that the state’s performance in various service sectors “is unimpressive,” considering that the decision is “an inappropriate measure and will not solve the problem, but rather will lead to major social crises.”
He called for “rapid action to force the government to freeze its decisions and search for alternatives that are not based on burdening citizens with ill-considered fees and taxes, and do not help solve the situations of those who benefit from them.”
He concluded by saying: “It is necessary not to remain silent about what the government has done, which is addicted to draining people’s pockets, while it does not lack the ability to provide resources and rationalize spending without impoverishing them in exchange for zero services.”
