The program, which is a fruit of the combined efforts of the Central Bank, the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC), and the legal community, would offer institutions in Lebanon with facilitated funding mechanisms to apply energy efficiency and preservation projects.

“This program is specifically allocated to those institutions who suffer from the high prices of petroleum products and the lack of energy- loans free of interest rates,” said Rodus. “It will allow institutions to benefit from credit facilities with low interest rates and then repay the loans they obtain through savings they achieve in their energy bills,” the UNDP official, said.

The program will help stimulate new job opportunities and would instigate a pioneering experience in this country, said Rodus.

The funding program would be applied through commercial banks. Rules for applying this program will be listed in a circular to be released “later” by the Central Bank, the press statement of the Central Bank said.

Energy projects will be overseen by the UNDP, the Central Bank, the European Union, and the LCEC, in coordination with concerned ministries.

“The Central Bank will play a key-role through the provision of loans with low interest rates for the energy and environment related projects, in cooperation with Ministries of Finance, Power and Environment,” Salameh said.

Salameh said that the interest of the Central Bank in energy projects is derived from its belief that this sector has a fundamental impact on the purchasing power of the citizen, and another impact on the balance of payments because Lebanon imports its entire energy needs from outside.

Salameh said that Lebanon needs to develop a strategy for the energy sector because as the world heads to recovery from the global financial crisis, oil prices would rise, which would impact inflation in Lebanon. “Lebanon should maintain an environment with low risks,” he said.

Ruedas praised plans of the government, and mainly the Ministry of Water and Power, to support energy projects, and its target to make renewable energies account to nearly 12 percent of total energy demand in 2020. “Those plans require tight cooperation between the private and the public sectors, and also require a set of rules and regulations and other financial and tax incentives,” she said.