NNA - Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Friday met at the Grand Serail with the Regional Director of the World Bank's Middle East department, Jean-Christophe Carret, with whom he discussed World Bank projects in Lebanon, including an assistance to the educational sector amounting to an allocation of approximately $25 million. 

The meeting also focused on aid amounting to approximately USD one million, which will be allocated to the electricity sector in order to carry out a financial audit of Lebanon’s electricity company “Electricité du Liban” in a bid to re-examine tariffs and the overall financial situation, establish a regulatory framework, as well as discuss the granting of a second “safety net -Aman” loan. 

The meeting also discussed the possibility of obtaining a grant of approximately $6 million from the Trust Fund to help the Ministry of Finance in the information system, tax reforms, the new law on public accounting, and the audit of the assets of 14 Lebanese banks representing 85% of the banking sector — one of the preconditions of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

===========R.H.