Attachments
IN NUMBERS
- 3,563,300 people in need of assistance
- 1.7 m people assisted in September 2022
- USD 24m cash-based transfers made
- 4,600 MT of food distributed
HIGHLIGHTS
• On 5 September, WFP signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture to jointly establish a crop-type mapping system. The system will use satellite imagery and ground truth data to provide an overview of land use and support sustainable agriculture policy and practices in Lebanon.
• Work is underway to launch a call centre for the Ministry of Social Affairs and to launch national disability inclusion strategy. A safety and accessibility audit recommended actions to improve safe and dignified access to assistance for WFP beneficiaries.
SITUATION UPDATE
• The price of the food basket monitored by WFP, the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB), reached an all-time high in August to reach LBP 884,000 up from LBP 860,000 in July. This was driven largely by the value of the LBP against the US dollar hitting an all-time low in September, nearly reaching LBP 40,000/USD.
• Reflecting the increasingly desperate socioeconomic conditions in Lebanon, the number of Lebanese and Syrian refugees seeking to migrate to Europe by sea has been increasing since the beginning of the crisis. Most recently, a boat carrying Lebanese and refugees seeking to migrate to Europe sank off the Syrian coast after sailing from North Lebanon, with a death toll exceeding one hundred. Also in September, a series of armed holdups took place in banks across Lebanon by depositors attempting to withdraw their funds, with no injuries or casualties reported.