Staff Writer
The World Bank announced in a statement on Friday that it has approved an additional $300 million in financing for Lebanon’s poor, delivering cash transfers to families suffering from the nation’s catastrophic economic collapse.
The additional funding comes two years after the World Bank authorized a $246 million loan to Lebanon to help hundreds of thousands of its 6 million citizens in need of emergency monetary assistance.
The biggest economic and financial catastrophe Lebanon has ever experienced is currently plaguing the country. More than three-quarters of Lebanon’s population now lives in poverty as a result of the crisis, which started in October 2019, and is the result of decades of corruption and poor management by the country’s governing class.
According to Jean-Christophe Carret, the director of the World Bank for the Middle East, “the additional funding will enable the government of Lebanon to continue to respond to the growing needs of poor and vulnerable households suffering under the severe economic and financial crisis.”
According to the World Bank, the new funding will give cash transfers to 160,000 households for a period of 24 months, including current recipients. The bank stated that eligible households will be given up to $145 each. The World Food Program and the Ministry of Social Affairs of Lebanon jointly manage the project.
Since the onset of the economic crisis, the value of the Lebanese pound has decreased by more than 95%, putting many of the nation’s citizens—including 1 million Syrian refugees—in need of assistance.
The World Bank’s announcement followed a separate one made on Wednesday by the UN agency for refugees and the World Food Programme (WFP), which said they will begin paying aid to refugees in Lebanon in dollars rather than lebanese pounds, up to a maximum of $125 per family per month.
Since Lebanon’s currency collapsed, U.N. organizations have been providing aid to refugees in Lebanese pounds. Prior to the modification made this week, refugee households could only receive up to 8 million pounds ($80 at the current currency rate) every month.
The shift was brought about by “the rapid depreciation of the pound, increased exchange rate fluctuations, and the strain on the financial provider to supply large volumes of cash in Lebanese pounds,” according to a statement from UNHCR and WFP officials.
According to U.N. representatives, the Lebanese government was consulted before the adjustment was made. Hector Hajjar, the interim minister for social affairs in Lebanon, asserted that Beirut is opposed to paying Syrian refugees in dollars.
Hajjar stated, “We rejected this because compensating Syrian refugees in dollars would encourage them to remain in Lebanon. The majority of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, he continued, are “economic refugees, not refugees who fled for security and political reasons.”
Since the beginning of the economic crisis and since government forces assumed control of much of the neighboring country, attitudes against Syrian refugees in Lebanon have gotten worse.
Many Syrian refugees can now safely return home, according to several Lebanese. The Lebanese army conducted a number of raids on refugee camps in recent weeks, arresting and frequently deporting anyone found to lack proper documentation for residency.
