Budget Discussions Resume in Parallel with BDL Protests
The Cabinet convened at the Grand Serail on Monday to resume austere budget discussions marred by labor street protests and open-ended strike announced by state employees of the Banque du Liban that is threatening to paralyze the country’s banking sector.
The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Saad Hariri kicked off after a statement issued by the Premier “banning strikes or inviting for one,” in state departments.
Employees of Banque du Liban meanwhile held a sit-in in protest at possible government measure to cut their salaries as part of austerity measures.
They issued a statement urging the government to withdraw Article 61 from the budget in order to end their strike which almost paralyzed the banking sector.
“There is a tendency to suspend the strike if the government withdraws Article 61 from the state budget draft,” they stressed, vowing to continue with the strike until the demand is met.
BDL employees were not the only ones rejecting austerity measures aiming to cut salaries of employees or reduce their benefits.
In parallel, the employees at the state-run National Social Security Fund also demonstrated outside their headquarters in Corniche al-Mazraa protesting any probable cuts to their salaries too.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said one of the measures to maintain budget balance is to increase the interest rate on cash deposits.
“We insist on increasing the banks' interest rate on bank deposits from 7% to 10% as a key measure to maintain the budget's balance," he noted before joining the ministers.
Source: Naharnet
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