The Syndicate of Pharmaceutical Importers and Warehouse Owners in Lebanon announced that a large number of medicines have run out, calling for immediate steps to tackle the crisis.
The Central Bank (BDL) provides hard currency for the import of medicines, but the decline in its foreign currency reserves forced it to delay settling the dues of the importing companies. While the official price of the dollar is still at LBP 1,515, its value on the black market exceeded LBP 18,000 and all sectors need a cash dollar for their imports.
“Imports have almost completely stopped since more than a month ago,” said the Syndicate in a statement, noting that the crisis was mainly due to Lebanon’s Central Bank owing foreign drug suppliers $600 million and importing companies not getting prior approval from the Central Bank to resume their activities.
It also warned that hundreds of other essential medicine would become unavailable in July if the crisis continued.
The Syndicate stressed that the only solution in the short term was the implementation of an agreement between the Ministry of Public Health and the BDL on maintaining medicine subsidies based on the ministry’s priorities and settling all dues to importing companies.
It also called on the BDL to earmark a monthly amount to import Lebanon’s future needs of medicines, to be disbursed according to the priorities of the Ministry of Public Health.
