BEIRUT (AFP) -- The World Bank granted more than 100 million dollars for economic reforms which Lebanon pledged to introduce at a donor conference in Paris last January.

Finance Minister Jihad Azur signed the agreements on social, energy, and financial reforms with Daniela Gressani, a World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa.
A loan of 100 million dollars is to be allocated to Lebanon's energy sector, another one million used for social reforms and 338,000 dollars is to go to the finance ministry, according to an official statement.
The World Bank promised a total of one billion dollars in aid to Lebanon at the January 25 conference in the French capital, while the European Investment Bank pledged 1.25 billion dollars.
Lebanon received pledges of 7.6 billion dollars from the international community at the conference, following the devastating Israel-Hezbollah war of July-August 2006 that caused an estimated 3.6 billion dollars in damages.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora announced earlier on Friday that the European Union has granted 74 million euros (100 million dollars) to finance six projects for reconstruction and economic reform.
The aid will help cover reconstruction and economic reform programs in areas most affected by the war, European Union ambassador Patrick Laurent said.
Lebanon has a huge public debt which ballooned to 41 billion dollars -- more than 180 percent of gross domestic product.
The Western-backed Beirut government has mapped out a five-year economic reform plan that includes a two percent rise in value-added tax (VAT) to 12 percent from 2008 and privatizing the electricity and mobile telephone sectors