World Bank: US $300 million to Scale-Up Support to Poor and Vulnerable Lebanese Households

World Bank: US $300 million to Scale-Up Support to Poor and Vulnerable Lebanese Households

NNA - The World Bank Grouprsquo;s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$300 million additional financing to thenbsp;Emergency Crisis and COVID-19 Response Social Safety Net Project (ESSN).nbsp;The additional financing will expand and extend the provision of cash transfers to poor and vulnerable Lebanese households and further support the development of a unified social safety net delivery system in Lebanon to allow a better response to ongoing and future shocks. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;

This US$300 million new package represents the second additional financing to the ESSN project (US$246 million) originally approved in January 2021 to help the Lebanon address the impact of the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic on the poor and vulnerable population. The project already benefited from a first additional financing of US$4 million in May 2022. This second additional financing will continue to help Lebanon protect its population from the impact of various crises, as well as help the country develop a targeted and digital social safety net system. Going forward, Lebanon would need to secure the fiscal space needed to finance social protection needs, including social safety nets, over the long term.

Lebanon is more than three years into an economic and financial crisis that is among the worst the