Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanon Economy Minister Says Has Flour to Last Four Months

The gutted grain silos seen after the Beirut blast. (AFP)

Lebanon has 32,000 tons of flour in addition to 110,000 tons that has arrived or will arrive in the coming two weeks, the economy minister said on Wednesday.

"This means we have enough for four months," Raoul Nehme said in a tweet.

The World Food Program is also sending 17,000 tons of flour as a first batch of a 50,000-ton supply plan.

A UN report on Tuesday said Lebanon only had six week's supply.

"We don't have a stock crisis or a bread crisis!" Nehme tweeted.

A Reuters report on Friday found the Lebanese government, unlike many wheat import dependent nations, had not kept a strategic stockpile of wheat and all the private stocks of the grain held in the Beirut grain silo at the port were destroyed in the blast that rocked the city on Aug 4.

Nehme said on Friday his ministry had planned to create a government reserve of 40,000 tons of wheat but those plans had not materialized ahead of the blast.

The Lebanese government resigned on Monday but President Michel Aoun asked the government to stay in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.