BEIRUT, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least 35 percent of Lebanese citizens now live below the national monetary poverty line, Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said Friday, describing the figure as a "negative indicator" of the country's deep-seated social crisis.
Speaking to local radio station Sawt Lebnan, Sayed said a new ministry study shows nearly half the population currently relies on some form of state assistance. The government's "Aman" program alone provides financial and social aid to roughly 160,000 vulnerable families.
Lebanon has been struggling to recover from a 2019 financial collapse that the World Bank ranked as one of the world's worst. The crisis, which wiped out life savings and sent the currency into a tailspin, has been compounded by recent military conflict that displaced thousands and leveled infrastructure in the south.
Addressing recovery efforts, Sayed noted that Parliament recently approved a 250-million-U.S.-dollar World Bank loan to rebuild damaged infrastructure. That funding is expected to trigger an additional 75 million dollars in aid from France. However, the minister warned that current funding remains "insufficient" to cover the total scale of the destruction.
The Council for Development and Reconstruction is currently assessing damaged areas. Sayed said reconstruction is being prioritized in regions accessible to the Lebanese army, as Israeli forces continue to occupy several border sites despite a 2024 truce.
Sayed projected that 2026 will be the year of "major reconstruction," beginning in the south and expanding to other regions hit by airstrikes. She cautioned, however, that the return of displaced residents will depend on the level of local destruction and "sustained security stability." ■
