One of the main issues that the Lebanese government should address in its effort to pull the country out of the economic mess is monopolies.

It is impossible to understand how, in a country like Lebanon, which claims to embrace the free market economy, monopolies are tolerated.

Last week, during a visit to a supermarket, Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, complained about the spike in prices. Well, it is the public who makes the complaining, while the duty of the prime minister is to identify the problem and find solutions.

The hike in prices of consumer goods is, to a large extent, due to the existence of monopolies. Exclusive agents of consumer products are granted immunity to fix prices as they wish. This simply explains the skyrocketing prices. But why do we have exclusive agents with the right to fix prices at will?

The United States is the most extreme representative of free trade in the world. Yet price fixing is prohibited by law. There are antitrust laws that kick in anytime a company or business seems to be dominating the market of a certain product. The story of the telephone company, AT&T, is a case in point.