October 6, 2026
Behind the scenes of the government palace, the Lebanese people’s hopes of alleviating the burden of the living crisis collided with a solid financial wall. The meeting of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam with a number of ministers witnessed a sharp confrontation and deep disagreements over the management of the stifling financial burdens, which ended with Finance Minister Yassin Jaber’s insistence, with Salam’s full cover, on keeping the sword of tariffs pointed at the fuel plate, while dropping any attempt to amend the electricity tariff.
Veto on fuel and electricity… collection priority first
Ministerial leaks revealed a categorical rejection of Energy Minister Joe Seddi’s proposals:
- Dropping the proposal to suspend fees: Finance Minister Yassin Jaber refused to respond to the proposal to cancel, suspend, or even reduce fees imposed on fuel, considering that maintaining the flow of revenues to the treasury takes precedence over any other consideration.
- Aborting the “moving tariff” for electricity: The Minister of Energy’s proposal to introduce flexible, mobile electricity tariffs faced the same veto; Although this mechanism was sufficient to forcibly reduce the total bill paid by the citizen between the subscription of private generators and the Lebanese Electricity fees.
The mystery of the withheld billions: a surplus of 15 billion dollars and no consolation for the street!
The government’s tough stance raised burning questions about the motives for this unjustified financial shortfall:
- Numbers expose austerity: Data indicate that the treasury account at the Bank of Lebanon records a huge surplus of more than… $5.5 billion (or its equivalent in lira), while it approximates public sector funds deposited with the central bank $9.5 billion.
- Accumulated funds and idle allocations: Fuel fees were imposed under the pretext of securing sufficient liquidity to pay military allowances. However, the disbursement of these dues was delayed for many months, while the treasury continued to accumulate funds and withhold them from any relief spending to absorb the shock of high prices.
The return of the ghost of 2019… political boldness falls in front of the financial wallet
This hardening re-evoked the approaches of the Crash era:
- Repetition of crisis experiences: Observers see Jaber’s performance as a reproduction of the previous public finance management approach, while Salam faces approaches that prevailed in previous government experiences that ended with an explosion in the street.
- Duality of boldness: The shocking irony is that the government, which has shown exceptional boldness in sensitive sovereign and security decisions (such as the issues of illegal weapons and sovereignty), appears helpless, hesitant, and lacks the minimum level of boldness when making crucial financial decisions that lift the nightmare of energy bills from the shoulders of citizens.
