Govt. to Tackle Spending during Wednesday Session

Cabinet is expected to convene at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday in order to tackle the government spending dispute, among other issues, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It will also address Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi’s draft law on the matter.

Sources monitoring the situation told the daily that the dispute may be resolved on Wednesday seeing as all sides have so far agreed to the minister’s proposal.

They also ruled out the possibility that the government’s functioning would be crippled as a result of the ongoing dispute.

Safadi had warned on Monday that the extra-budgetary spending has become a “heavy burden” on the ruling March 8 majority.

“Each spending made currently is illegal,” he said in reference to the law, which says that the government can’t allocate funds that exceed the last state budget of 2005.

Cabinet members are at loggerheads over a $5.9 billion spending bill that would legalize the allocation of funds made by Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet.

While the Free Patriotic Movement, Amal and Hizbullah have pressured President Michel Suleiman to sign the bill into law over parliament’s failure to adopt it, ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat have defended the head of state in his decision not to.

Suleiman claims that the bill includes violations that should be amended by taking into consideration the remarks made by the parliamentary finance and budget committee.

The failure to approve the bill has threatened to withhold the salaries of Lebanese civil servants although Safadi gave assurances that the employees would receive their wages.