World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was redirecting funds originally earmarked for development programs in Lebanon towards emergency aid for people displaced by Israeli bombardment of the country.

"The World Bank is activating emergency response plans to be able to repurpose resources in the portfolio to respond to the urgent needs of people in Lebanon," said a statement from the US-based multilateral institution.

The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of this amount will be redirected.

Since September 23, more than 1,000 people have been killed in an Israeli air-and-ground campaign on Lebanon that has targeted armed group Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, with strikes expanding to include the capital Beirut.

Thousands have been displaced since the bombing began, and the funds would be used to provide aid to those populations, the World Bank said.

"This would include emergency support to displaced people that could be deployed through a digital platform the World Bank helped put in place during the Covid epidemic," the statement said.



Syria’s President Appoints Former EY Partner as Central Bank Governor 

Shoppers walk browsing for items along the alley of Damascus' Hamidiya covered market on March 29, 2025 as Muslims prepare ahead of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AFP)
Shoppers walk browsing for items along the alley of Damascus' Hamidiya covered market on March 29, 2025 as Muslims prepare ahead of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AFP)
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Syria’s President Appoints Former EY Partner as Central Bank Governor 

Shoppers walk browsing for items along the alley of Damascus' Hamidiya covered market on March 29, 2025 as Muslims prepare ahead of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AFP)
Shoppers walk browsing for items along the alley of Damascus' Hamidiya covered market on March 29, 2025 as Muslims prepare ahead of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AFP)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed Abdelkader Husrieh as the country's new central bank governor, according to a statement by the president's office, weeks after his predecessor tendered her resignation to allow for a new appointee.

Husrieh, who was previously a partner with international accounting firm EY in Syria, was sworn in by Sharaa.

Husrieh's appointment comes few weeks after Syrian central bank governor Maysaa Sabreen tendered her resignation less than three months after she was appointed to the post in a caretaker role.

Sabreen told Reuters at the time that she resigned because the country's new rulers would appoint a new governor after the formation of a new government, which was announced in late March.

She had pledged during her short-lived tenure to boost the bank's independence after years of corrupt state control.

Economists view central bank independence as critical to achieving long-term macroeconomic and financial sector stability.

While the Central Bank of Syria has always been, on paper, an independent institution, but under Bashar-al-Assad, whose regime was toppled in a lighting offensive in December, the bank's policy was de facto determined by the government.