Speaking to journalists in Geneva, WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said the families arrived on 20 November, forced to flee fresh violence in Nabek and Yabroud.

 

The WFP is working closely with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to ensure that individuals have quick access either to food parcels or electronic vouchers to buy their choice of food products without having to move to a distribution point.

 

So far, the UN agency has helped and assisted 10,000 people by giving them food parcels for a month containing 19 different categories of foods, including vegetables, sugar, and canned meat.

 

By the end of next month, 800,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon would be using the electronic voucher system, injecting USD 95 million into the Lebanese economy, said Byrs.

 

Since the beginning of the year, WFP has increased its food assistance in Lebanon five times.

 

Meanwhile, the WFP Friday  reiterated a USD 52 million funding gap in its USD 116 million budget for the overall WFP operation in Lebanon between November 2013 and January 2014.

 

The voucher system aiding Syrian refugees in Lebanon has injected more than US$82 million into the local economy since the beginning of 2013. Photo: WFP/Dalia Khamissy