On Monday, June 19, the French Cour des Comptes (Court of Auditors) advised France to establish a permanent and cross-sectoral financial monitoring system for its aid to Lebanon in order to “verify its coherence, assess its impact and provide effective steering instruments.”
The Cour des Comptes, which examined the aid provided by the French government to Lebanon over the period 2020-2022, called on the French authorities to be extremely cautious in the distribution of aid and credits.
In its audit published on Monday, the Court noted that “amid the prolonged Lebanese crisis, it has become imperative to roll out permanent mechanisms for consolidating statistics in order to have the necessary tools to measure the coherence, effectiveness and impact of French public aid and optimize the distribution of financial resources to address the needs of the Lebanese population.”
The Cour des Comptes noted that “since 2020, the French State has been extensively engaged in assisting the Lebanese population in coping with the crisis they are facing.” During that year, and in the aftermath of the double explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron launched a series of long-term aid measures to relieve the population, as the country was engulfed in an unprecedented economic, financial and social crisis.
Consequently, the audit findings concluded that from 2020 onwards, the annual allocation of state credits to Lebanon has been multiplied by 2.7 between 2020 and 2022, and 214 million euros have been spent from public resources, of which 45% have been earmarked for education and training, 25% for health, 10% for food and agriculture, 10% for reconstruction and the economy and 10% for civil society.
“In a matter as sensitive and complex as aid to Lebanon, it is only logical for the political approach to take precedence. However, it is essential to enhance the oversight of commitments and disbursements at the central level. This entails closely assessing (…) the nature and scale of the allocated credits, checking their consistency and phasing over time, assessing their impact and providing effective steering instruments,” the Cour des Comptes recommended.
