What Does Lebanon Have To Do To Secure Electric Loan From World Bank?
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Roshan Amiri
- . June 10, 2022
- . Update: June 11, 2022 5:05 pm
Lebanon– Lebanon is trying very hard to keep its head above choppy waters as the country reels under electricity cuts and energy deficiency. Until World Bank can fund, the Lebanese government has decided to appoint a special auditor to help the local electricity company.
But before this, Lebanon has to wait to get a sum of $600 million from the World Bank to fund its audit. This would be the first audit to be conducted by the appointed company Abousleiman & Co. in a decade. Meanwhile, the World Bank’s condition to lend the money is the audit itself, that will finally unlock two loans estimated to be worth $600 million in total for Lebanon to import gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, both via Syria.
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The loan is the main requirement for Lebanon to increase its output through its national electricity company Electricite du Liban. The increase would lead to increase in electricity output from two to eight hours a day. State infrastructure has nearly collapsed amid the country’s three-year old economic crisis, its worst to date.
The audit is one of many steps requested by the World Bank to boost productivity at EDL, which has contributed to as much as $43 billion in the country’s $93bn national debt, according to a 2021 report led by the American University of Beirut.
The select auditor has made a formal statement in the media saying, it won the bid “less than two months ago”. The firm’s managing director, Wissam Abousleiman, had further added that, “We are waiting to hear back from EDL about the signature of the loan from the World Bank. Parliament then needs to approve the contract between the Lebanese government and the World Bank before we can commence the audit.” Lebanese is getting help from Jordon as well for its supply of electricity that has been brokered by the US.
