Khalil: New 'Transparent' Budget Put Lebanon on 'Track for Reforms'

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil stressed on Thursday that Lebanon's new budget plan will put the country on the right track to begin reforms as he assured that none of the taxes imposed have an impact on poor segments of the society.

“The latest cabinet discussions about the draft budget plan were not arbitrary and many reforms and amendments were made,” Khalil said in a press conference.

“The wage scale and all its expenditures and revenues will be included in the budget as soon as it is approved. It will have a positive effect on reducing the budget deficit,” he added.

Affirming the transparency of the plan he said: “The new budget is transparent it did not hide any expenditures or deficits. We reviewed the proposal to impose new taxes which saw no levies imposed on the poor.”

Touching on foreign loans and grants, Khalil said: “We have applied the provisions of grants agreements and foreign loans and subjected them to control according to the rules.”

The Minister affirmed that efforts were keen to reduce unexplained squandering.

“The budget was based on improving collection of bills away from burdening the people with additional taxes. We have also added some measures to improve the Customs performance and to transfer the port's funds to the treasury,” he explained.