Lebanon on the Brink of an Outage, Authorities Warn

Lebanon is about to suffer a national power outage, authorities warned on Friday, as a $200 million loan to pay for fuel imports has yet to be approved. The parliament submitted the loan in March, but the special committee assessing has not reported a final decision.

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"We should not forget that starting May 15, gradual darkness will start," lawmaker Nazih Negm said after meeting representatives from the energy sector, including the ministers.

To acquire imports to avoid the outage, the state-owned electricity company Electricite du Liban (EDL) has to pay $200 million in advance. Still, the Parliamentary Public Works Committee has delayed the transfer amid a critical lack of foreign exchange.

Back in March, the caretaker energy minister Raymond Ghajar said that "Lebanon could head towards total darkness at the end of the month if Electricite du Liban is not provided with financial aid to buy fuel."

Lawmaker Nazih Negm told reporters that some plants across the country, such as the Zouk Mosbeh power plant, will stop operating from May 18, alongside others North and South of the country. On the other hand, some users will be able to contract private electricity companies, which charge ten times the price, but these will be limited.