Article Author:
Reuters
Najib Mikati said he had appealed to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kademi. Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kademi has agreed to extend the same terms as the agreement signed last year.
In July 2021, Iraq provided the cash-strapped Lebanese government with 1 million tonnes of heavy oil annually in exchange for services, including medical care, for Iraqi citizens.
The deal was intended to alleviate Lebanon's severe power shortage. It reached crisis levels last summer when the government failed to subsidize fuel imports.
Lebanon has since removed these subsidies and domestic fuel prices have skyrocketed. Then, Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed international prices higher this year.
Most households in the country are left without state-owned electricity for about 22 hours each day because the government is unable to fuel public power plants.
(Additional reporting by Enas Alashray and Maya Gebeily; writing by Nadine Awadalla; editing by Mark Heinrich and Josie Kao)
