Lebanon’s Parliament has approved a $246 million loan agreement with the World Bank for a support program to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable families in Lebanon.
The loan comes as part of the World Bank‘s Emergency Crisis and COVID-19 Response Social Safety Net Project (ESSN). The World Bank itself had already approved the loan back in January.
Initially, the plan was to provide assistance to around 147,000 most vulnerable families (approximately 786,000 people) in Lebanon for one year.
However, today, MTV Lebanon reported that the agreement will now ensure that up to 161,257 extremely poor Lebanese families will be provided with monthly cash transfers of 800,000 LBP (less than $100/month).
Additionally, the ESSN will provide support for the education of up to 87,000 students between the ages of 13-18.
The provision of financial assistance granted in the Lebanese pound will be nothing but symbolic support in the face of the depreciating value of the local currency against the dollar, which just rose beyond 11,000 LBP.
