Lebanon to take $116m in loans to solve electricity crisis

Lebanon’s caretaker government, on Wednesday, approved opening credit lines totalling $116 million to fix the country’s electricity grid, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“An advance of $62 million in favour of the electricity sector has been approved,” Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, told a press conference in the capital, Beirut.

He added that a sum of $54 million has also been allocated for maintenance works.

READ: Lebanon: electricity charges aggravate refugee crisis

Lebanon’s two main power plants have occasionally broken down and require heavy maintenance.

On Monday, Lebanese Energy Minister, Walid Fayad, announced an initiative to solve the country’s chronic power outages at a cost of $600 million over five months to increase electricity supplies to 10 hours per day.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been plagued by a crippling economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst the world has seen in modern times.

READ: Lebanon raises cost of electricity for first time since 1990s