A newly installed set of solar panels on a house in Komatiyeh, Baabda district. (Credit: Mortada Rammal, special to L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Chairman and general manager of the state-owned Housing Bank Antoine Habib and caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil met Tuesday to prepare for the relaunching of real estate, home restoration and solar panel loans on June 20 after a three year halt, according to the state-run National News Agency.
Here’s what we know:
• The NNA also reported Habib as saying, “the Housing Bank is about to launch a website to serve those wishing to apply for those loans,” which “are exclusively for Lebanese citizens with low income, if they have not previously benefited from any housing loan, and do not have a house registered in their name in Lebanon.”
• A spokesperson for the Finance Ministry told L'Orient Today on Tuesday that the loans will be funded by the The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in Kuwait and Banque du Liban.
• “For the home purchase loan, the Housing Bank has allocated a maximum amount of LL1 billion to be repaid in installments over 30 years and with an interest rate that does not exceed 4.99 percent,” Habib said.
• He also stated that for the home renovation loan, a maximum amount of LL400 million will be repaid in installments over 10 years, at an interest rate of 4.99 percent.
• For the solar energy loans, he said the financial ceiling ranges from LL75 million to LL200 million to be repaid over five years at an interest rate of 4.99 percent.
• For his part, Khalil assured Tuesday that he will follow up on the issue and will contact the concerned officials to facilitate the disbursement of the Arab Fund loans, amounting to 50 million Kuwaiti dinars, to implement the loan agreement that was signed between the Lebanese state, represented by the Council for Development and Reconstruction, and the Arab Fund on April 25, 2019.