In a briefing with the Lebanese Press Editors’ Syndicate at the Grand Serail, Mikati said that the high number of applicants “is an indication of high social pressures.” (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced Friday that some 166,000 applications have been found eligible for a social assistance program designed to help the country’s most vulnerable households out of 239,000 registrations on the government’s Impact platform as of Thursday.
Here’s what we know:
• In a briefing with the Lebanese Press Editors’ Syndicate at the Grand Serail, Mikati said that the high number of applicants “is an indication of high social pressures,” referring to the level of poverty in the country as it faces an unprecedented economic crisis.
• According to the UN, 82 percent of the population have fallen under the multidimensional poverty line.
• The registration platform for the program was launched on Nov. 30, around 11 months after the $246 million loan for the Emergency Social Safety Net program was approved by the World Bank.
• The application process, which ends in January 2022, is facing several difficulties, with thousands of applications marked incomplete for assorted reasons, including not being in possession of an ID card, not having enough money to get the required documents to finish the process and, in some cases, not being literate or computer literate enough to complete the form.
• Registration for the World Bank-funded ESSN program and for the separate government ration card program is being run through the same system. The system is designed to identify those who are eligible for either of the programs.