Lebanon reduces fuel subsidies amid gasoline shortages

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has granted his approval to allow the financing of fuel imports at a rate higher than the official exchange rate. The move effectively reduces critical fuel subsidies amid worsening gasoline shortages. It’s likely to sharply increase the price of gasoline but is expected to temporarily ease the shortage crisis in the country. Lebanon is going through an unprecedented economic and financial collapse coupled with a dangerous political crisis. The simultaneous crises pose the gravest threat to the small country’s stability since the end of its civil war three decades ago.