Iraqi delegation arrives in Beirut

Shafaq News / An Iraqi delegation arrived in Beirut on Monday to discuss Lebanon's situation and payment of its oil dues to Baghdad.

An official statement by the Lebanese government said that the two-day visit will discuss benefiting from the $550 million deposited in Lebanese banks.

The Iraqi authorities have demanded that the delegation meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Najeeb Mikati, Minister of electricity Waleed Fayad, and the Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, to discuss Lebanon's payment to Baghdad, in exchange for the one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil it has provided.

The two countries have agreed that Lebanon would pay its dues in goods and services in various fields, including health and education.

On July 2021, Iraq has signed an agreement allowing the cash-strapped Lebanese government pay for 1 million tonnes of heavy fuel oil a year in goods and services, helping Lebanon ease its acute power shortage, the two sides said on Saturday.

Lebanese caretaker Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar, speaking on his return to Beirut after signing the deal, said the fuel would be used for electricity generation and was enough for four months.

Lebanon is in the throes of an economic meltdown threatening its stability. It has all but run down foreign reserves and faces a growing shortage of fuel, medicine and other basic goods. Most Lebanese face power cuts for many hours a day.

Lebanon, which has struggled to meet electricity demand at the best of times, has imposed increasingly long power cuts across the nation as fuel supplies have run short during the crisis that erupted in late 2019.

Many Lebanese rely on private generators that use diesel, which is also in short supply.