Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the government treasury will bear the cost of the continuation of fuel subsidies that was decided on Saturday.
The central bank said earlier that the government had decided to raise the exchange rate used to price fuel to 8,000 pounds to the dollar from the previous level of 3,900 to the dollar, effectively increasing fuel prices.
Central bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters the bank's Sayrafa platform would provide dollars for fuel imports at its market rate, which was 16,500 on Friday, a little below the
parallel market rate of around 19,000.
He said the difference between the Sayrafa rate and the 8,000 level would be a loss to be carried by the government.
