Caretaker Minister of Social Affaires Hector Hajjar in Baabda Palace, on March 9, 2022. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
The Ministry of Social Affairs announce Friday that an additional 10,459 Lebanese families will benefit from cash social assistance under the World Bank-funded Emergency Social Safety Net (known as “Aman”), according to the state-run National News Agency.
The payment of cash assistance to these families will begin at the end of May 2023, the ministry said.
The ministry said the decision was made "after consultation of data from different citizens and based on the guidelines of the ministerial committee dedicated to the Aman program, about the extension of the spectrum of beneficiaries in view of the difficult economic situation and after discussions with the various partners and the World Bank."
Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar presented a proposal to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, which was accepted on March 5, the statement adds.
The families chosen were selected according to the following criteria: "Small families, people with special needs and elderly people who had registered" to the program, and those whose homes were inspected by the ministry, the statement said.
Last week, the Ministry of Social Affairs announced that it had extended the emergency social safety net for six months.
The program provided monthly cash transfers to 76,000 of Lebanon's poorest families in 2022.
"Benefits for these families will be extended for six months, and these families will receive a single payment for the months of January and February 2023, starting March 15," the ministry had said.
Lebanon's severe economic crisis began in 2019 and pushed more than 80 percent of the population below the poverty line.