According to the Ministry of Finance, transfers to EDL stood at $72.78M by February 2021, dropping by 62.7% 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 100% of total transfers, slumped yearly by 62.5% to $72.78M by February 2021, as the volumes of fuel and gas oil imported decreased by 83.72% and 1.32%, respectively.
EDL contributed for 1.20% out of the total oil bill – cost of gas oil and fuel oil purchase. This figure was lower at 0.04% during the same period of 2020, of a higher bill of $194.36M.
EDL transfers represented a share of 4.6% of the government’s primary expenditures (excluding interest payments), which reached $1,577.45M by February 2021, compared to a higher share of 8.8% last year.
Importantly, data for EDL transfers is still not updated for the recent period, however, we note that the Electricity sector in Lebanon is still adding pressure to the financial crisis in Lebanon.
Moreover, the two main power plants were forced to shut down after running out of fuel by September 2021, which led to longer periods of power cuts. As such, hospitals and major services settled in crisis mode, and are increasingly dependent on private operators that also struggle to secure supplies amid shortages of cash and fuel.
EDL Contribution from Total Oil Bill by February
