Lebanon to take out $116m in loans for ailing electric grid

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker government has approved opening credit lines totaling $116 million to help fix its crippled state electricity grid. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday that his government agreed to open a credit line of $62 million for a shipment of fuel at the port and an additional $54 million to provide maintenance for the country’s rundown Zahrani and Deir Ammar power plants. The cash-strapped country for over two years has struggled with rampant power cuts that have crippled much of public life. Households only receive about an hour of state electricity per day, with millions now relying on expensive private generator suppliers to power their homes.