Saudi Arabia, France partner to provide $76 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon

Saudi Arabia, France partner to provide $76 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action (KSrelief) signed an MoU with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Agency for Development (AFD) to support humanitarian work in Lebanon, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.

The combined $76 million aid came to be under the framework of the Saudi-French partnership.

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The agreement was signed by a KSrelief department director Mubarak bin Saeed al-Dossari, the French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Griot, and the AFD Director in Lebanon Gilles Gran-Pierre.

The first phase of aid will include aid in “food, nutrition and health,” SPA reported.

Earlier this month, Lebanon signed a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a 46-month extended fund facility, under which Lebanon has requested access to the equivalent of around $3 billion.

But access to those funds is contingent on enacting a slew of economic reforms and financial sector restructuring.

The currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value, and more than 80 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line.

With the government too poor to afford imports of basic commodities such as medicines, many are struggling to source