In a country where the poverty rate has become more than 55% of its population, the solution that helps this expanding segment would only be through the financing card, especially since the urgent crisis prevents - at least at the moment - from creating job opportunities...

On July 16, 2021, President Aoun issued Law No. 230 related to the electronic financial card, which was approved by the Parliament last June, and was published in the Supplement to Issue No. 29 of the Official Newspaper on 7/22/2021, and this comes in a step that coincides with the lifting of subsidies on basic articles, It started with the pricing of fuels based on the exchange rate of 8000 liras to the dollar, and unsubsidized medicine based on 13650 liras.

At this time, the committee concerned with the issuance of this card meets for a period exceeding five hours a day and is composed of the ministers of social affairs, labor, and economy in the caretaker government (Ramzi Musharrafieh, Lamia Yammine, Raoul Nehme) in addition to the head of the Central Inspection Judge George Attieh, advisor to the prime minister, and a representative of the World Bank.

While the procedure of obtaining the financing card contribution has not yet been decided, whether in cash in dollars, or Lebanese pounds, based on the parallel market exchange rate, or by electronic payment, the fear is that it will turn into an “election card”, with the due date approaching next spring.

An order which was completely denied by Judge Attieh, affirming through the “Akhbar Al Yawm” agency that we are working to ensure that the financing card won't be electoral, stressing that it will be through the IMPACT platform, which completed the vaccination program against the Corona epidemic.

He stressed that working through the platform and the central inspection means that the card will be outside any political calculations, adding: This is a foregone conclusion because we are working on basic principles, the most important of which are:

“Equality for all”

- Transparency, and this is what appeared through the pollination platform, where the data tables are determined in real-time (that is, every day by day) and not based on data that has existed for years, and it does not show names, but numbers and graphs.

- Data privacy, where the highest standards were applied despite the war that was waged against us.

- Confidentiality of information through a system developed by NOTEC, the most important company in the Middle East for data protection, and no breach can be recorded on the whole system.

Accountability and is evident in the weekly reports on the performance of hospitals regarding the vaccine, and this is not to target, but rather to correct implementation procedures so that they come in line with the basic principles.

In response to a question, Attieh explained that we are working to ensure that the financing card reaches the families most in need, away from the thinking, logic, and calculations of politics, as it affects the food security of people and the goal is to reach them according to objective criteria, stressing that politicians have nothing to do with the data on which the system is based. The selection and sorting of families take place without human intervention through the electronic system, by specifying the required criteria.

As Attieh expected that the results would be detailed and accurate, and would be subject to transparent and clear oversight, he said: We use everything that modern informatics makes available to collect information.

Regarding the distribution of cards, he made it clear that it will be through the Service Provider, that is, through companies that will deal with the Banque du Liban directly.