Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) poses for a picture with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during their meeting at the Grand Serail government headquarters in Beirut on May 2, 2024. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday $1 billion in aid for Lebanon during her visit to Beirut, and called on measures against irregular migration.
The financial package will be available for use from this year until 2027, and will contribute to Lebanon’s socio-economic stability, said von der Leyen.
The European Commission president said the aid aims to strengthen basic services such as education and health in the country amid its severe economic crisis.
The World Energy Council (WEC) ranked Lebanon 68th out of 126 countries worldwide in its latest 2024 Energy Trilemma Index.
The index measures national energy system performances across three dimensions: attention to safety, capital and environment — three categories which are graded from A to D — and also takes into consideration a country's macroeconomic and institutional situation.
Lebanon obtained a score of 57.7 points out of 100 with a DACd ("D" for the "security" aspect, "A" for the "capital" aspect, "C" for the "respect for the environment" and "d" for the economic situation).
Lebanon's score was below the world average (62.8 points), but slightly higher than its previous score (57 points).
At the regional level, the country was ranked 12th out of 14. Jordan was just ahead (58.3 points) and the highest-ranked Arab country, the United Arab Emirates, came in at 70.3 points.
The price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for private or neighborhood generators, which supply power to make up for insufficient production by the public supplier Électricité du Liban (EDL), has been set at LL33,815 for April bills, compared to LL33,984 in March (a decrease of 0.5 percent).
Prices had already fallen by 0.8 percent at the time of the previous update in March.
Converted at the exchange rate used by the Energy Ministry for its calculations, i.e. LL89,700 to the dollar, this rate is equivalent to $0.38.
Fuel prices dropped on Tuesday, according to the latest price list published by the Energy Ministry, after previously seeing a continuous rise. The price of diesel did, however, experience a significant increase.
Here are the new rates:
