S Arabia renews USD 1bn line of credit for Beirut: Lebanese govt

Saudi Arabia, which vies with arch-rival Iran for influence in Lebanon, will grant the country a USD 1-billion development loan, a Lebanese government official told a donor conference in Paris today.

"It's a renewal of a line of credit that was there in the past and was not used," Nadim Mounla, an economic adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, said.