At the CEDRE conference in Paris on Friday 6 April, the European Commission announced a package of up to €150 million "to support the revitalisation of the Lebanese economy as part of its longstanding commitment to the economic development of Lebanon".
The Commission states in a press release that the aid provides for the mobilisation of up to €50 million in grants funding that could be mobilised in each of the coming three years (2018-2020) to provide technical assistance and ensure a sufficient level of concessionality of loans. The funding comes from the EU External Investment Fund.
According to the Commission, this aid could generate up to €1.5 billion in loans for Lebanon until 2020, "on condition that the country's financial institutions identify and propose projects that are bankable and adopt relevant reforms".
The EU has allocated over €1.3 billion in aid to Lebanon since 2011: €268 million as part of bilateral aid and €1.069 billion in response to the Syrian crisis.
Overall, the conference enabled donation pledges or loans of $11.5 billion. In addition to aid from the EU budget, France announced a contribution of €550 million (donations and loans), the Netherlands €300 million, the UK €130 million and Italy €120 million. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)