Following a meeting of the agriculture parliamentarian committee devoted to discuss the subsidized food basket, MP Ayub Hmayed announced that concerned ministries and departments were advised to stop import licenses of non-essential commodities. This measure, Hmayed stated, secures partial protection for made-in-Lebanon products, on the one hand, and saves expenditure on the state treasury, on the other, while preventing the depletion of hard currency. Hmayed also underlined the need to follow-up above measure to prevent any exploitation of the economic crunch through a strict control of balance of trade between production and import. The minister said he asked the local media to be more cooperative with public departments and prepare targeted ad hoc programs to indicate the subsidized products in order to prevent taking advantage of the crisis. (Al Diyar, July 21, 2020)