BEIRUT, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar said on Monday that about 50 percent of the country's population have registered for social assistance through the social safety net financing plan funded by the World Bank, National News Agency reported.
A total of 550,000 families, or 3.5 million individuals, have registered for cash assistance, mostly from areas in Akkar, Baabda and Tripoli, according to Hajjar.
"Each family will receive a fixed amount of 25 U.S. dollars monthly, and an extra 20 dollars for each child in the family, for up to six children," he explained.
Funded by a World Bank loan of 246 million dollars, the social safety net financing plan aims at helping the most vulnerable families in Lebanon which has been going through its worst economic and financial crisis with a poverty rate exceeding 75 percent.
Hajjar noted that registrations for the cash assistance revealed that around 250,000 Lebanese families or 2.5 million individuals live under the extreme poverty line. ■
