Cabinet Forms Hariri-Led Panel to Finalize Budget

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The Cabinet on Monday formed a ministerial panel headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri and tasked with "studying the budget figures and returning to the Council of Ministers with final suggestions."

The Cabinet meeting was presided over by President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda. It was dedicated to discussing the State's 2018 budget.

During the session, Hariri announced that he will "call for consecutive Cabinet sessions to finalize the 2018 State budget."

Aoun for his part stressed the need to address the issue of housing loans, saying: “The recent house loans isse must be addressed in coordination with the Social Affairs Ministry and the Central Bank of Lebanon.”

Before the meeting, Deputy PM and Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani voiced hope that the budget will be approved before May 6, the date set for the country's parliamentary elections.

“We wish to approve the budget before the elections without inflated expenses or any reduction in investments,” said Hasbani.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil assured that the figures of the budget will be thoroughly discussed. As for a suggestion of reducing 20 percent of the budgets of ministries, he said: “We will see this in the session.”

“We will wait to see which reforms will be included in the budget,” Economy and Trade Minister Raed Khoury stated.

SourceNaharnet