The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Housing Bank, General Manager Antoine Habib, reiterated in a statement that "the package of loans that the bank will launch includes a house purchase loan, with a maximum amount of one billion Lira for buying an apartment payable over 30 years, a home renovation loan with a maximum of 400 million Lira payable over 10 years, and solar energy loans ranging from 75 to 200 million Lira, payable over 5 years," pointing out that "a unified annual interest rate of 4.99 percent will be applied."
He spoke about "the limited resources available to banks amid the pressures arising from the crises and the liquidity restrictions faced by the country." He said, "In addition to our own resources, which comprise our capital and the allocations we rely on from our shareholders consisting of 80 percent from private banks and 20 percent from the state, we will depend on a generous funding source amounting to approximately $165 million through efforts to revive a concessional loan agreement with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in Kuwait."
He noted that "this concessional loan agreement is the third of its kind between the fund and the bank." He also emphasized that "the Gulf umbrella, in general, and the Kuwaiti one, in particular, has never been absent from Lebanon and its residents, despite the passing summer cloud that occurred in recent months." He stated, "In our communications with sister countries and their institutions, we observe all the good and usual preparations to continue their policies and options sincerely responding to our financial needs. The funding from the fund, which we colloquially refer to as the Kuwaiti loan due to the fund's headquarters, is a new indication of the depth of the relationships that connect us with our Gulf brothers, whether at the level of state entities or at all popular and institutional levels."
He concluded: "We have learned from banking sources that five banks have started offering loans for solar energy, including the Bank of Lebanon and the Middle East and First National Bank."
