According to the Ministry of Finance, transfers to EDL stood at $28.72M by January 2021, dropping by 84.9% compared to the same period last year. This was mainly a result of 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 99.19% of total transfers, slumped yearly by 84.88% to $28.67M by January 2021, as the volumes of fuel and gas oil imported decreased by 100% and 50.66%, respectively.
EDL had no contribution of the cost of gas oil and fuel oil purchase. This figure was higher at 0.01% during the same period of 2020, of a higher bill of $189.05M.
EDL transfers represented a share of 3.1% of the government’s primary expenditures (excluding interest payments), which reached $928.69M by January 2021, compared to a higher share of 14.1% last year.
Importantly, data for EDL transfers is still not available for the recent period, however, we note that the Electricity sector in Lebanon is still adding pressure to the financial crisis in Lebanon. As of June 2021, EDL was able to unload only one Tanker of fuel oil but failed to open credit documents for another. Furthermore, Lebanon is still experiencing longer periods without electricity.
EDL Contribution from Total Oil Bill by January
Source: MOF