Lebanon receives $250 mn World Bank loan to reform electricity sector

Beirut, April 25 (IANS) Lebanon has signed a $250 million loan agreement with the World Bank to support critical reforms in its struggling electricity sector, according to media reports.

The agreement was signed by Lebanese Finance Minister Yassine Jaber and World Bank Regional Director Jean-Christophe Carret, both describing the loan as a significant step toward improving Lebanon's power infrastructure and governance, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This loan represents a strong boost to the structural reforms Lebanon is implementing in the electricity sector," Jaber said, highlighting long-delayed efforts to establish regulatory frameworks and operational oversight.

Carret called the agreement a "turning point" in the World Bank's cooperation with Lebanon, noting it marks the first loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for the country's power sector.

According to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA), the project will fund the creation of a national control centre, improvements in accounting and billing systems at the state-run utility Electricity of Lebanon, and the development of scalable solar energy farms.

The first phase of solar projects is expected to generate 150 megawatts and save around $40 million annually in fuel costs.

Lebanon's electricity sector has faced chronic outages, financial mismanagement, and infrastructure decay for decades, becoming a central focus of reform in the country's recovery plans.

Over the past couple of years, the frequency of power outages in Lebanon has significantly increased due to the government's financial distress, which led to its inability to provide foreign currency to import fuel.

Lebanon's power production earlier ranged between 1,600 and 2,000 megawatts daily, but the fuel shortage in recent years has gradually reduced production to unprecedentedly low levels.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have vowed to work on implementing reforms and fighting corruption and decades-old mismanagement by the ruling class to get Lebanon out of an economic crisis that the World Bank has described as among world's worst since the 1850s.

In Beirut, Parliament on Thursday approved a law to meet a key demand of the International Monetary Fund to remove the decades-old banking secrecy before the IMF agrees to a bailout program.

--IANS

int/khz