Beirut, March 13 (IANS) The Lebanese Parliament has passed a law on a $246 million World Bank loan that will provide direct cash assistance for about 150,000 vulnerable families, at a time when 50 pe rcent of the country's population have been plunged into poverty.

On Friday, Parliament also passed another law on a $5.5 million World Bank loan for small and medium-sized enterprises in Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lebanon has been suffering its worst economic and financial crisis amid a shortage in US dollar, the collapse of the Lebanese pound, as well as high unemployment and inflation rates.

As a result, the Central Bank of Lebanon also recently tightened regulations against the country's banks, which compelled some of them to close branches and lay off employees to stay afloat.

The national currency has slipped to a new low of 10,000 Lebanese pounds per $1.

--IANS ksk/