Minister of Social Affairs in the Lebanese caretaker government Ramzi Msharrafieh, announced the launch of cash support cards that will benefit 500,000 families, and said that negotiations are underway regarding their financing, part of which is from the new special drawing rights allocations from the International Monetary Fund, and loans from the World Bank.

Msharrafieh said during the launch of the financing card: “The card is far from discretion, and it is not an electoral card. There is a system for receiving complaints, and the financing card will be paid in US dollars or its equivalent in Lebanese pounds in the parallel market.”

He added, “Our hope is for an integrated economic plan that would get people out of this crisis and put us on the progress right track.”

For his part, Economy Minister Raoul Nehme affirmed, “The solution is to form a new government, and we were hoping that it would have launched this program, and we want to support families who are in real need for support on the basis of “who is rich” and not “who is  poor.” We will give $25 per person and the maximum for each Family is $126.”

“Our goal is to exclude the affluent, and we will ask for information, including ID numbers, passports and bank accounts, if any, and we will verify all the information,” Nehme stressed.

He pointed out that “the head of the family is the one who fills out the form and puts information about all family members. The application is submitted either via the Internet, through the ministry’s centers or through non-governmental organizations. The hotline number 1747 can be contacted for any assistance regarding the registration process, and all families can register in the program without exception, and whoever knows that he is affluent, we hope that he does not register to make room for the families in need.”