Parliament Approves Amended Government Spending Bill

Meetings in parliament on the sidelines of the legislative session on Monday enabled the rival political parties of reaching an agreement over the controversial issue of financial spending following months of political quarrelling.

The deal on the LL11 billion bill was reached after some amendments were agreed.

“The financial spending law has been approved with some amendments that slashed the amount by 20%,” MTV reported, noting that Prime Minister Najib Miqati promised that the bill would only cover urgent spending.

For his part, head of the al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, ex-PM Fouad Saniora, said the country needed a “unified stance,” noting that he suggested that the amount be slashed by 20 percent in order to put the issue on the right track.

“We are willing to put a ceiling on the deficit amount and to portray an image reflecting financial and monetary stability,” Saniora added.

Speaker Nabih Berri said “it is important to prepare a state budget as soon as possible so that parliament would be able to approve it before October,” hoping all parties would cooperate to that end.

Earlier on Monday, a meeting was held between Berri, Miqati, Saniora, Deputy Speaker Farid Makari and Lebanese Forces bloc MP George Adwan.

Another meeting was held between Adwan and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun in the presence of Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan.

The legislative session kicked off Monday morning and will be resumed on Tuesday, with 33 items on its agenda.