According to the Ministry of Finance, transfers to EDL stood at $738.978M by October 2020, dropping by 43.4% compared to the same period last year. This was mainly due to lower payments to KPC and Sonatrach for fuel oil purchases, and lower debt services.
In details “Payments to fuel and oil gas suppliers KPC and SPC”, constituting 99.73% of total transfers, slumped yearly by 43.5% to $737.17M by October 2020, as the volumes of fuel and gas oil imported decreased by 22.73% and 16.40%, respectively.
EDL contributed 0.08% of the total Jan-Sept 2020 oil bill, higher by 0.31% during the same period last year, out of a higher bill of $1.30B. In nominal terms, EDL’s contribution amounted to $563,847 by September 2020, compared to $4.03M during the same period of 2019.
EDL transfers represented a share of 8.1% of the government’s primary expenditures (excluding interest payments), which reached $730.26M by December 2020, compared to a higher share of 14.3% last year.
The Electricity sector in Lebanon has contributed to worsening the financial crisis in Lebanon. The chaos in spending without a clear sustainable plan has left this sector a liability on the Lebanese government.
EDL Contribution from Total Oil Bill by October
Source MOF