Drafting a State Budget Tops New Cabinet Agenda

On the eve of the second parliamentary session set to convene for the government’s vote of confidence on Wednesday, the cabinet has a busy schedule ahead with drafting the state's budget on top.

The cabinet and parliament have a number of tasks to study, mainly the preparation of a state budget draft, the first in many years, which will take its way after the introduction of amendments prepared by Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil under the previous government, An Nahar daily reported.

Unnamed sources told the daily that the budget discussions could take several months until next spring before being finalized.

It will include the adoption of the controversial salaries wage scale, for which the provisions will be provided through a slight increase to the Value Added Tax.

The second major issue that the government will attend to, is devising a new electoral law for the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for May 2017.

Due to conflicts between the rival political parties, Lebanon has been without a state budget since 2005 and its public debt has amounted to $70 billion.