The Byblos Bank publication Lebanon This Week reports that the government approved a $6m grant from the World Bank to finance various social studies that would help to properly address poverty, social support, health coverage and education in Lebanon. The agreement is the third step of the Emergency Social Protection Implementation Support project, which was approved during the Paris III conference held in January 2007.

The results of the studies will be used to propose new mechanisms that set poverty measures and estimates of the number of underprivileged in Lebanon, along with their characteristics and needs, in order to better allocate financial support. The funds will be allocated to cover studies for the National Social Security Fund ($2.2m), the Ministry of Education ($1.1m), the Ministry of Social Affairs ($2m) and the Ministry of Health ($0.7m).

A previous study by the UNDP indicated that the number of poor individuals increased by at least 5% over the period 2004-07, and that more than 30% of the Lebanese population lives with less than $4 per day, which accounts for about 1.2 million Lebanese residents. Furthermore, the proportion of individuals living with less than $2.4 per day increased to 8.5% of total Lebanese residents, or 340,000 Lebanese residents.