Khalil: Three Budget Priorities to Achieve Goal

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil affirms “perseverance to follow an approach that develops a balanced and reformative budget that includes reduced figures for the deficit we suffer,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

The state budget includes 11 reformative items that met the approval of Lebanon’s various political parties and therefore is unlikely to draw controversy, said the daily.

A debate on the budget, based on reducing the deficit, took place between ministers of the Strong Lebanon bloc and the Minister of Finance on the one hand, and between President Michel Aoun, Khalil and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on the other, said the daily.

Khalil stressed that all efforts focus on approving the budget, pointing out to “three priorities” that must be addressed in order to achieve the desired purpose:

“First, the electricity deficit ( $ 2 billion a year, a gradual reduction from now until 2020). Second, random hiring in state institutions. Third, the public debt service,” he said.

Lebanon’s 2019 state budget has still not been passed although the government was formed at the end of January.

The government is expected to discuss the budget and approve it before passing it to Parliament for endorsement.

The government is scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon at the Grand Serail to discuss several items listed on its agenda after an earlier session on Monday that saw the approval of a long awaited electricity plan.