Lebanon bank boss slams criticism over ending fuel subsidies

Lebanon's central bank governor has said nobody is running the country, hitting back after government criticism of his decision to halt fuel subsidies that have drained currency reserves.

In an interview broadcast, Riad Salameh said the government could resolve the problem quickly by passing the necessary legislation.

He denied he had acted alone in declaring an end to the subsidies on Wednesday, and said it was widely known that the decision was coming. "So far you have nobody running the country," Salameh told Radio Free Lebanon.

Lebanon's army seized fuel from gas stations to curb hoarding amid crippling shortages. The worsening fuel crisis is part of Lebanon's wider financial meltdown. Hospitals, bakeries and many businesses are scaling back operations or shutting down as fuel runs dry.

Deadly violence flared in fuel lines, protesters blocked roads, and fuel tankers hijacked this week.

The American University of Beirut Medical

Center said it was threatened with a forced shutdown as early as Monday because of shortages of fuel used to generate electricity.

"This means that ventilators and other lifesaving medical devices will cease to operate. Forty adult patients and 15 children living on respirators will die immediately," the hospital said.

The central bank's move to end subsidies will mean sharp price increases. It is the latest turn in a crisis that has sunk the Lebanese pound by 90 percent in less than two years and pushed more than half the population into poverty.

The central bank has effectively been subsidising fuel and other vital imports by providing dollars at exchange rates below the real price of the pound most recently at 3,900 pounds to the dollar compared with parallel market rates above 20,000. This has eaten into a reserve which Salameh said now stood at $14bn.

To continue providing such support, the central bank has said it needs legislation to allow the use of the mandatory reserve, a portion of deposits that must be preserved by law.