The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group approved additional funding of $300 million for the emergency project to support the Social Safety Net in response to the crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon (Social Safety Net Project ESSN).
This additional funding will allow for the continuation and expansion of cash transfers to the poorest and most needy Lebanese families, as well as support the development of a unified social safety net system, enabling better responses to current and future shocks.
This new $300 million package represents the second additional funding for the Social Safety Net project, which was approved in January 2021 to support Lebanon in addressing the impacts of the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic on the poor and most needy population.
The project had previously benefited from an initial additional funding of $4 million in May 2022.
The second additional funding will enable Lebanon to continue protecting its population from the impacts of various crises, as well as assist the country in developing a digital and targeted social safety net system. In the next phase, Lebanon will need to secure the necessary fiscal space to fund the needs of the social protection sector, including social safety nets, in the long term.
