Lebanon’s misguided government subsidies are quickly eating up its foreign reserves

Dagher, Leila and nehme, raoul (2021): Lebanon’s misguided government subsidies are quickly eating up its foreign reserves. Published in: International Policy Digest (18 February 2021)

Abstract

Before eliminating the current subsidy program, the Government of Lebanon should introduce an Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) program as a compensation to its heavily-impacted citizens. UCTs have proven to be more efficient and cheaper than subsidizing goods or even distributing in-kind donations such as food boxes, and have lower overhead compared to Conditional Cash Transfer programs. While the richer families benefit more from the current subsidy scheme, UCT better targets the poor and more vulnerable families and limits any abuse or misuse of public funds. More importantly, UCT will put an end or at the very least drastically reduce across the border smuggling since prices of fuel and other items will rise to reflect market prices.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: lebanon; subsidies; cash transfers
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

References

Dagher, L.,* and Nehme, R., 2021. Can Lebanon's Economy Be Saved? A Plan for Revival. Middle East Policy 28(1), 123-134.