World Bank discusses new financial assistance to Lebanon

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with the World Bank Country Director for the Middle East Department, Jean-Christophe Carret, on Friday to discuss World Bank's projects in Lebanon.  

The meeting dealt with many issues, including assisting the education sector with 25 million dollars allocated to teachers in public education and related to productivity and the attendance of teachers at schools.  

Both Mikati and Carret talked about assistance amounting to about one million dollars that will be allocated to the electricity sector to conduct a financial audit in Electricité du Liban to re-examine the tariff and economic situation and the establishment of the regulatory authority, in addition to providing the "Aman" network with a second World Bank loan.  

They also discussed obtaining a grant from the trust fund amounting to about 6 million dollars to help the Ministry of Finance with the information system, tax reforms, the new law on public accounting, and auditing the assets of 14 Lebanese banks representing 85 percent of the banking sector, especially since the start of the audit process by international companies is one of the prerequisites for the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).