Cabinet Postpones 2013 State Budget Discussions, Refers Hike in Officials' Wages to Parliament

The cabinet failed on Monday to reach a decision concerning the 2013 state budget as it referred the increase in salaries and compensations for the three top presidential posts of the country, Ministers and MPs to the parliament.

The government convened at the Baabda Palace postponed discussions over the revenues of the 2013 state budget to Tuesday's session expected to be held at the Grand Serail.

Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi presented the 2013 state budget draft earlier in September to Miqati. It sets spending at $15.26 billion and the deficit at $3.11 billion.

The cabinet also referred the hike in officials' salaries and compensations to the parliament to take a decision regarding the matter.

President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc rejected last week any increase in officials wages.

Media reports said that the president, the speaker and the premier will collectively have an increase of around LL 6,200,000 while the ministers and MPs will be allocated around LL4,300,000, where the state's treasury will have to hold a burden of around LL8,300,000,000 each year.

The cabinet also tackled suggestions to boost the treasury's revenue to cover the expenses of the new wages increase.

It agreed on imposing taxes on land parcels, the lottery, and investment licenses.

The government recently approved the new wages scale for public employees ending a long dispute that had prompted the Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, to hold several sit-ins and strikes.

Concerning the anti-Islam movie that sparked protests in countries from North Africa to the Middle East and Afghanistan, the cabinet tasked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to follow up the matter.

However, Suleiman and Miqati criticized Mansour for not consulting with them his Arab League initiative.

The FM announced on Sunday his will to call for an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers to denounce an anti-Islam film.

The initially obscure "Innocence of Muslims," produced by a U.S. religious group, has been cited as one of the main instigators of riots that have killed 17 people across the world.

The movie mocks the Prophet Mohammed and portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent.

Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said following the session that the film contradicts the civilized values that the West believes in which "one man's freedom ends where another's begins."