World Bank to increase financial support for Lebanon

Beirut, June 5 World Bank Group Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa ,Ferid Belhaj said that the global lender will increase funds allocated to the most vulnerable families in Lebanon.

"We will be offering more funds to the most vulnerable families, as requested by Lebanese Finance Minister Ghazi Wazneh, on condition that these funds be provided the soonest possible in cash to poor families," Belhaj said on Friday following his meeting with Wazni.

Belhaj noted that the social safety net financing plan which is funded by a World Bank loan of $246 million will be soon implemented by the Finance Ministry.

Earlier this year, the World Bank had approved the loan to establish the financing plan aimed at helping the most vulnerable families as Lebanon has been going through its worst economic and financial crisis with a poverty rate exceeding 50 per cent.

In a new report released on June 1, the World Bank said that Lebanon's prolonged severe economic depression may place it among the 10 most severe crises globally since the mid-19th century.

"In the face of colossal challenges, continuous policy inaction and the absence of a fully functioning executive authority threaten already dire socio-economic conditions and a fragile social peace with no clear turning point in the horizon," the report said.