World Bank, EU, UN Say Agreement to Give Lebanon Aid in US Dollars

World Bank, EU, UN Say Agreement to Give Lebanon Aid in US Dollars

Syrian refugees walk as they carry containers at an informal tented settlement in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon March 12, 2021. (Reuters)

Impoverished groups in Lebanon could soon receive more aid after a letter from international donors said on Wednesday there had been an agreement to hand out assistance in hard currency as the Lebanese pound crashed to a new low.

Aid to the country in the midst of a financial meltdown exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic is currently handed out in Lebanese pounds at rates set by the Central Bank.

But in a letter to the country's finance ministry seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, representatives of the European Union, United Nations and World Bank said they "take note of the verbal agreement" on Feb. 22 by the Central Bank chief and deputy prime minister for aid to be disbursed in US dollars.

"We are confident you share the urgency of rolling out the agreed-upon disbursement mechanisms at the earliest, in order to ensure the consistency and continuity of aid amidst increasingly challenging socio-economic conditions," the letter said.

Lebanon has one of the most unequal wealth distributions in the world and poverty has soared since an economic crisis erupted in 2019, worsened by an explosion